


I Prefer Poirot

by Puzzled



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-23 19:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7476792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puzzled/pseuds/Puzzled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jaune was young he hoped for a powerful semblance. He didn't get one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The airship was moving smoothly through the air, something that was no comfort to Jaune as he kept his eyes firmly shut and his hood pulled low. He’d managed to mostly get over his motion sickness, there was a trick with aura for it, but he’d gained new limitations with that. Either way the ride was almost over and with it his solitude. He’d have to get up and interact with the world.  
  
“Hello and..” Jaune pulled his hood tighter around him as he heard Goodwitch’s recorded voice, more interaction with her was the part of Beacon he was least looking forward to. One good part was that the rest of the passengers had gone silent with her speech, leaving him with only one voice to try to ignore. He felt more than heard the ship land and its doors open. The volume surged then slowly decreased until he was sure he was the last one aboard. Only then did he pull back his hood and open his eyes.  
  
Unsurprisingly it was still the ship’s cabin, brushed metal and industrial carpeting in the indulgently spacious plane. He looked to his hip just to be sure but he could feel the comfortable weight of Crocea Mors on his waist. He couldn’t resist a smile, he hadn’t really thought he’d make it here and was determined to enjoy it. “Just you and me buddy.”  
  
The girl who was just passing him- how could he not have noticed her still being aboard? - looked back at him quizzically. “Were you talking to me?”  
  
“Uh no, just..” He was about to sound exactly as awkward as he knew most people thought he was, so he trailed off. She seemed to have picked up on what he would have said in any case, raising an eyebrow as she glanced at his sword.  
  
“There was another girl who was treating her weapon like a person, maybe you should look her up.” She moved past towards the exit with that, towing a suitcase that judging by the indentations in the carpet was full of- he looked away.  
  
Beacon. It was as impressive now as when he’d first seen it. He’d half hoped that his first time as a student would be different but it was the same shining towers, all the roofs inclined to Ozpin’s pinnacle. It hadn’t changed, but he had. It was time to leave the airship. The breeze that greeted him was refreshing, it was a relief to release his aura now that nausea was no longer a worry and the brisk fall air dismissed any lingering unease. It also carried the sounds of an explosion nicely, two girls were surrounded by the characteristic aftermath of mixed activated dust. The girl he’d spoken to was heading in that direction and everyone seemed fine, so he left them to it and began to head towards the Main Hall.  
  
He kept his head down as he walked but he still caught snatches of conversation around him. The new students were nervous, and the upperclassmen watching were mixed between nostalgia and amusement. It was a little ridiculous how they kept the initiation a secret, or tried to, but it was a bonding experience for the school as well as a final weeding out of candidates. Jaune couldn’t quite imagine what it would be like to be unprepared before the launch into Emerald Forest, but the pads had a purpose. It was just a step in any direction to avoid them. Someone, probably Ozpin, made them the first lesson of Beacon, that occasionally a Huntsman had no choice but to suffer. Of course the academies taught their students how to deal with it, no doubt laughing to themselves as they flung teenagers hundreds of feet into the air. At the end of the day a terminal velocity fall wasn’t that big a deal for anyone with awakened aura.  
  
He reached the Main Hall and joined the milling crowd, towards the back but not so far as to be on the edge. Ever since he’d figured out his semblance he had the tendency to be a bit of a wallflower, but this was a new part of his life. He could take the opportunity to change his habits. Jaune glanced around, he was just between two groups, spaced closely enough to both that they’d both assume he was with the other. Pulling his scroll out he flipped it open and pulled up a game, it was easier to deal with the sights and noises if he could focus on the three inch screen. More importantly he had to beat his sisters at it. They’d formed a team against him and were probably cheating too in the name of fairness. He didn’t think any of them would have spotted ‘exquisite’ across a triple word score without the aid of a program. Whatever, he was still up seventy points, his semblance really helped with spelling and vocabulary. Before he could draw upon the strength of his soul to find the best combination of letters Ozpin reached the stage.  
  
The old man, he wasn’t especially old except in a profession where most died young, walked to the podium, his coffee present in his hands as ever. His eyes scanned the crowd, never stopping as they moved through the same constant search that all Hunters eventually mastered before he began his speech.  
  
Well perhaps speech was too grand a term. It was mostly an indictment of their ambitions, although Jaune could have sworn that Ozpin was looking at him when he mentioned the limits of knowledge. Whatever, he was more than his semblance and he’d prove it. Looking around no one else seemed to have taken that motivation from him. The crowd had gone quiet when he started and stayed quiet after, the earlier chatter was noticeably absent.  
  
Goodwitch appeared, twice in one day was far too often, and instructed them to head to the ballroom, Jaune joined the human flow and he felt something fall into place. Flow, movement, stream, current, flux, rheology- that was it! His semblance had come through again. He pulled out his scroll and triumphantly used all seven of his tiles. Fifteen points, a double word score and then fifty for using his entire slate. Maybe his sisters had a point.  
  
His mass text may not have been the most sporting but if they were using a computer and still couldn’t beat him they deserved a little mockery. He was so caught up in his scroll, they might be transparent but he had never gotten the hang of looking at two things at once, that he tripped over a girl who was already half set up for bed.  
  
He was about to pick himself up, he’d prioritized his scroll and had rolled to land on his side, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He felt lighter as she pulled him to his feet, the weight of his armor and weapons was nothing compared to his embarrassment- no the weight was different she-  
  
“Are you alright?” He met the girl’s eyes and froze, they were the same green ones that glared accusingly at him from the cereal cabinet. Well maybe glared was a strong word but Pyrrha Nikos’s eyes seemed hard when he went past her box for a more sugary variety. In real life they were hardly kinder even if they were filled with concern, there was just too much history between them.  
  
His mouth was moving before he could think, anything to shift the judgement of the fighter onto a different target. “If a fall like that would hurt me I’d be in trouble tomorr-” Jaune cut himself off, it was a secret, or it was supposed to be. Now he looked and sounded like a spaz as well as spoiling a time honored tradition.  
  
The concern didn’t fade, she was probably worried that a patient had escaped from a mental hospital. “Are you sure? And what do you mean about tomorrow?”  
  
“You’ll see.” With those hopefully enigmatic words he vanished back into the crowd or tried to. Two conversations, both with girls who could conservatively described as striking, and two strikes. “Just how I wanted things to go on day one at Beacon.”  
  
“You too?” The voice came from far below, and the speaker’s age seemed to fit. It was a little girl in a red hoodie, the same he’d seen earlier in the dust explosion.  
  
“Didn’t you blow up?” Her face fell and Jaune inwardly swore at himself. Three for three Arc, nice going.  
  
“Only a little! And that wasn’t entirely my fault!” She looked to the side, Jaune followed her gaze to a girl entirely dressed in white, “The pamphlet she gave me agrees she should have taken more care with her dust!” She turned back to Jaune looking expectant, but nervous.  
  
“Well all’s well that ends well my Dad used to say.” Given time to think about his words he was halfway competent, he hadn’t seemed like a weirdo or ruined a tradition that time!  
  
The girl looked almost as excited to continue the conversation as he was, maybe her day was going as poorly as his. “Mine says that too! Mostly when something goes horrifically wrong and we only barely escape death or disfigurement, but still.” She smiled but still was uncertain, it was his turn.  
  
“So, I’m Jaune Arc, what’s your name?” A classic conversational gambit, the introduction.  
  
“I’m Ruby, Ruby Rose! It’s so nice to meet you, ever since I got here it’s been crazy. Yang, my sister, abandoned me, then I blew up and then I made a negative friend!” Her words were spilling over themselves, so that it was a shock when she paused. Jaune boldly seized the opportunity to interject.  
  
“How do you make a negative friend?”  
  
“They’re typically called enemies,” Another girl joined them, from the way Ruby brightened at seeing her Jaune felt confident that this was her sister. “And I didn’t abandon you, you just need to make friends, positive friends. Just think of me as the mama bird, pushing you from the nest.”  
  
That was definitely a sister, with seven Jaune felt he was qualified to judge the interaction. “Trying to bring her out of her shell?”  
  
The blonde smiled broadly, “I was thinking more like making her spread her wings, but I guess you can’t make a friendship omelette without breaking a few eggs.” Ruby didn’t look entirely happy about the analogy, but her sister continued. “So I’m Yang, you are?”  
  
“He’s Jaune Arc.”  
  
“Short sweet, the ladies love it.” Both sisters exchanged a look, then Yang grabbed Ruby.  
  
“Right- nice to meet you, see you around!” The two of them vanished into the crowd and Jaune started to look for a place to sleep. So, three strikes and then a fourth just for fun.  
  
“Just how I wanted thing to go on day one at Beacon.” This time no one responded and Jaune collapsed into his sleeping bag. “Well at least I didn’t make any negative friends.”  
  


_____

  
The next day found the entire entering class at the edge of the cliffs. Jaune stepped onto his pad warily but a few others had more visible nerves. He saw Pyrrha standing next to a girl in white, the one Ruby had blown up, and then the two sisters next to each other. He tuned out Ozpin’s speech, considering how bored the man sounded he was probably ignoring himself too. Initiation was simple in concept anyways. Don’t die in the fall, don’t die going through the Grimm infested forests, don’t die getting a relic and don’t die returning to the top of the cliffs. Just four steps.  
  
“I can handle four steps.” The class and Ozpin turned to look at him, apparently interrupting the opening speech was poor form.  
  
The professor took a long draw from his mug, swished the drink- fair trade coffee from Vacuo- around for a second and then gestured vaguely. “Well then Mr. Arc, good luck.”  
  
His stomach was left behind as he launched, the suddenness of the pad giving him no time to draw upon his aura. For all that he knew it was coming being tossed from a cliff was never a good experience. It took a few seconds to control his tumbling flight, he saw others being flung after him until he settled into a more controlled fall and looked ahead. The ground was approaching rapidly and he began to orient himself, flaring his aura an instant before he hit.  
  
He left what he considered a very impressive crater, the ground had cracked beneath his feet. He took a second just to breath, this was it, this was the beginning of his hunting career, before with a sharp exhale he started jogging north.  
  
The first person who met his eyes, that was who he’d be spending four years partnered with. So far he hadn’t made a good impression with anyone here, it might be best to meet someone new. Statistically it was likely, he’d interacted with less than ten percent of the the class and - those bushes were moving against the wind.  
  
His sword was suddenly in his hand, his shield was in its more compact form but for anything capable of hiding in the brush he shouldn’t need it. He breathed in, steadying himself as he faced the edge of the clearing and released his semblance.  
  
Smaller Grimm- not an Ursa or larger- Beowolves- five of them- no six, the sixth was sneaking around behind him- the sixth was behind him- the sixth was-  
  
He dove to his right, rolling to his feet and scanning back to his left. There was a Beowolf there, larger than average but looking almost puzzled at his sudden dodge. The beast had still been a few seconds away, his semblance had overreacted.  
  
His leap had left all of the Grimm in front of him though, scattered across a wide front as the rest of the pack ambled from their cover. Jaune pulled his shield up, and focused again, his semblance wasn’t great in combat but occasionally it was useful.  
  
Alpha will feint- one of the pack, third from the left-  
  
Jaune pivoted towards the alpha, the world dulling as he clamped down on the stream of information. Learning that his opponents sword was part of a set of three and was covered in a layer of silver chloride in an effort to reduce the risk of infection was remarkably unhealthy in a fight. He’d gotten to bleed all over the sword before he gave up on trying to leverage his semblance during combat. Besides, these were beowolves, his father killed them by the hundred, and he had handled larger packs on his own.  
  
The alpha charged and Jaune lunged, not to meet it but to slash the other. Its mask shattered and it fell- the alpha saw its plan fail and attacked for real only to be met by his shield. It reeled back, temporarily stunned as Jaune waded into the other four. He ducked a swipe, flicked out a probing blow that cost one a paw, and then stepped into an overhand blow that severed the spine of the least cautious. Two more swings finished the subordinate group- that just left the alpha- he spun back and only saw its rapidly receding body. He also saw the girl who launched it, the blond, Yang, still in her follow-through admiring its flight.  
  
“Thanks.” He carefully kept his eyes on the sky. Whoever he was partnered with he was a four year commitment and he wasn’t entirely sure he shouldn’t try for someone new.  
  
“Lover boy?” She was incredulous, he didn’t need to see her to know that.  
  
“I think I’m more of a fighter.”  
  
“If your line last night was any indication, you’d have to be.”  
  
Jaune breathed in deeply, everything was always muted after a fight and his adrenaline was fading. “Well we haven’t made eye contact yet so if-”  
  
“That’s against the spirit of the whole thing!” Her head, purple eyes weird, appeared in his field of vision. “Besides if you’re that bad at flirting you need me. I guarantee you’ll get the Yang of it in no time!”  
  
Jaune closed his eyes, a facepalm would have seemed rude, and besides his hands were full. When he opened them he saw her looking exceedingly proud of herself. “Do you do those often?”  
  
“I try to get Jaune or two in every conversation.”  
  
“Lovely.”  
  
“Keep that attitude and this partnership will go just fine.”  
  
The two of them kept moving north, occasional gunfire would break the silence of the otherwise peaceful morning. “So what’s your story?” Or Yang would.  
  
“Pretty standard I guess. My parents are hunters and I’ve always wanted to follow in their footsteps.”  
  
“You weren’t at Signal though?” Yang pushed through the undergrowth as she questioned him. They emerged into a clearing with several toppled pillars, the ruins.  
  
“I was there for a little bit, my parents pulled me.”  
  
“Really?” They strolled down towards the rocks, Yang clearly enjoying the sunlight. “I don’t remember you, why’d they do that?”  
  
“My semblance.”  
  
They’d reached the center of the ruins, plinths stood around the circumference with chess pieces atop them. “And?”  
  
“Well they’re both Hunters and they and their superiors thought I’d do more good helping them than attending school.” Yang was interested now, clearly curious.  
  
“So what is this semblance of yours? Time travel? Death rays? Super-strength?” She paused, her head tilted. “Is it too powerful to use much? Is that why you didn’t use it on the Grimm?”  
  
“I wish.” He turned to the closest plinth, a black queen was on it. “It’s a bit more subtle, intuition.”  
  
“Like you know what someone’s going to do next in a fight? You’re always three steps ahead?”  
  
“Well not really, sometimes but-”  
  
Yang was sceptical, clearly she’d hoped for more. “That doesn’t seem worth pulling you from school.”  
  
“Well there’s more-”  
  
“I feel like we should go left! No right!” Yang had her hands up, both making mouths arguing with each other. “I mean you’re here now, you don’t need to make up a story about how you were too good for Signal.”  
  
Jaune sighed, he’d have to do the thing. He let the fetters on his semblance go and focused on Yang. The rest of the world didn’t fade away, but around her he just saw more. “Your name is Yang Xiao Long, Ruby is your half sister.”  
  
“And? The hair wasn’t enough of a clue?”  
  
“You shared a father, the mother’s out of the picture.” She looked a little startled at that so Jaune pushed on, her micro-expressions giving him all the information he needed. “Dead? No missing- Missing and dead? Ruby’s mother is dead, yours is missing, she left you early, you’re looking for her.”  
  
Yang was silent for a second, Jaune could tell that was entirely uncharacteristic. “You can do that to anyone?”  
  
Jaune smiled, it might have cost him friends and a more normal childhood but his semblance never got old, knowing things he couldn’t was the greatest. “Anything.” He moved to take the queen, but staggered, paying the price for his power.  
  
“Are you alright?” Yang was there before he could recover. While he was glad she’d caught him having a shotgun, Ember Celica his semblance helpfully informed him, close to his head was a little worrying.  
  
“Yeah, just when I do that it burns a lot of aura.” He pulled his scroll free, he was still in good shape, the dizziness was already passing. He met her eyes, the concern was fading as he steadied. “And yes I’ll do my best to help you find your mother.”  
  
She quirked an eyebrow and smirked. “You’re not always right then?”  
  
Man, he’d been on a roll. “Just mostly. Your sister then? I think we’re the third group here, want to wait for her?”  
  
She bowed then and mimed lighting a pipe, “Excellent deduction Sherlarc-”  
  
Jaune cut her off with a raised hand. “If it’s all the same to you, I prefer Poirot.”


	2. Chapter 2

After the chaos of initiation and team formation life at Beacon settled down, or as much as it ever did. Endless lectures, team exercises and essays filled the time that wasn't spent recuperating from combat training.  
  
It turned out that random facts weren't incredibly useful in a fight. For instance, right now Yang was standing across the ring from him grinning and his semblance was only telling him she had no less than six puns planned for all conceivable results of their bout.  
  
"Don't worry partner!" Her toothy grin utterly failed to reassure him. "It'll just be a few seconds and then we'll be done!"  
  
His mouth was moving before he could stop himself, "No need to share your past experiences, you'll be reliving them soon."  
  
She raised an eyebrow, "What are you trying to imply here?"  
  
Well in for a penny.. "Just that this fight will be ending like a lot of your nights."  
  
Yang cracked her knuckles and then her neck. "If you're about to say 'with a Yang' I'm not sure you're going to have a good time."  
  
Jaune glanced up at Goodwitch, she was just about to start them off. This would either work incredibly well or he'd be picking his teeth out of the floor. "Nothing so pedestrian, partner," hopefully reminding her of that would lower the odds of broken bones. The bell rang and Yang didn't charge immediately, waiting for the punch line. "I was going to say it'll end with you on your back."  
  
For a single soul crushing moment Jaune was afraid he was going to be murdered. Then Yang let out a bark of laughter and shot herself forward. Taking the first hit squarely on his shield felt like victory.  
  
Hunters used weird weapons, it was a fact. Looking through history there had been a pretty clear evolutionary progression from fists to rocks to clubs etc. Pistols on ribbons or sniper scythes didn't fit at all but there was at least some evidence that choosing such an idiosyncratic weapon allowed the hunter or huntress to better express their soul.  
  
Neither Jaune nor Yang had terribly strange weapons. He wasn't sure if that meant they were boring, if their souls were simple and they were doomed to be overshadowed by more colorful personalities. Yang certainly didn't fit that hypothesis but developing it further could wait till he had more time or alcohol. Metaphysics was best undertaken with both.  
  
One nice thing about normalish weapons, the shotguns added something special, was that fighting Yang used a lot of standard techniques. Using a sword and shield to beat up on unarmed foes was probably the second most common usage case and Jaune couldn't help but be familiar with the moves, more advanced swordplay relied on them. Unarmed peasants weren't Yang though.  
  
He'd taken her first punch and despite her strength and momentum had managed to hold his ground. Her second he blocked as well before sending a testing blow flicking out. She faded away from it, opening a little space he was quick to slip aside to keep open.  
  
He had reach on her, even without three feet of steel, and it would give him a little more time to react. She had set into a traditional boxing pose, hands up at her head as she lightly bobbed. Jaune kept his eyes on her core, completely for tactical reasons and certainly not for any prurient-  
  
She seemed to flicker as her renewed assault was led by two dust rounds. He parried one and dodged the other, just to see her Sunday punch coming like the fist of an angry god.  
  
He rolled to his feet and then she was there. He kept his shield up, frantically blocking and deflecting, the few counters that got past her guard only made her accelerate.  
  
So that was her semblance. She hadn't shared, claiming she wanted to wait for the opportune moment, and he was bad enough with secrets he had actively avoided finding out. It was subtle, at least for now, but that could just be because he hadn't landed any real hits. He took his eyes off her briefly and looked at the meters, despite her controlling the fight they were about equal, his massive reserves saving him again. He couldn't keep this up though, he'd just lose tired.  
  
Her next punch he stepped into, catching her just slightly off balance before thrusting his shield up and away. Yang was a solid girl, another idea best kept unspoken, but he was a hunter. Launching one hundred and thirty pounds of huntress into the air was much easier than some of the things he'd done in training.  
  
It didn't phase her of course. She landed on her feet and ready, almost looking disappointed to see Jaune was still where he'd been.  
  
"Is that all lover boy?" She was bobbing again, her grin showing that nothing he'd done yet had hindered her. "From all your talk I was expecting more, maybe some fireworks!" She had flung herself forward before she finished, one of her gauntlets boosting her as the other wound back to deliver a dust round to his forehead.  
  
His slash hit her hand before she could fire it, a full overhand blow with every inch of his frame behind it. Her shot went wide, the ground cratered behind him as he punched Yang with the edge of his shield as hard as he could.  
  
She reset depressingly quickly, getting her guard up and slapping away his followup strike before he could capitalize. Her eyes were red now, and her hair was gleaming, he'd landed a solid blow but all it had done was engage her semblance.  
  
She was in close now, she’d barely seemed to cross the distance and it was only years of practice that let him avoid even half the blows. The rest got through and he was reeling, barely keeping Crocea Mors up.  
  
At last the onslaught stopped, a brief pause only his semblance helpfully informed him. Well if he was going out, he was going out in as he came in.  
  
"Was it good for you too?" Maybe not in style, but at least thematically consistent.  
  
Yang didn't reply, blowing a strand of hair away from her faces as she glanced at the aura meters, he didn't need intuition to know that was a bad sign.  
  
"Want to use that brain of yours for a second Jaune? Why are you like a rainbow?"  
  
He took a second to breath, he was sure he’d need it. "Because I'm beautiful and lead to treasure?"  
  
"Nope," she popped the p as she cracked her knuckles. "Because you're an Arc in the ceiling!"  
  
Jaune didn't have time to swear before she was there- her eyes and hair blazing as she batted away his shield and landed the biggest uppercut he'd ever even seen.  
  
The roof was a brief interruption in his flight, the second one he hit stopped him. The class he'd interrupted just stared at him as he picked himself up. The student whose desk he'd shattered watched him scrabble in the rubble as he staggered to his feet.  
  
His shield was still on his arm, "My sword?" He'd lost it somewhere between hit three and four- it appeared quivering embedded an inch into the floor in front of him, he hadn't even seen anyone move. God he couldn't wait to be a badass. "Thanks, and sorry for the interruption." There didn't seem to be much else to say, so with that he jumped back through the hole in the floor.  
  
Yang turned, for the briefest instant he saw worry before she realized he was under control. Did she really think he'd been flying all this time? That would have been- well a long time. His ribs probably wouldn't have made it. The class was silent as he landed, dust and rubble falling from him. It probably looked pretty cool, Jaune had to resist congratulating himself.  
  
"Was that it?" Or his big mouth would keep trying to kill him. "If you were trying to rock my world, I've had better." He caught a brief glance of Yang's sister's mouth hanging open. After that it was all over but the screaming.  
  


__________

  
"Nice work fearless leader! I especially liked how you suplexed Jaune through the floor." That hadn't been fun. "Not that it wasn't cool how he just got back up again, neat trick by the way." Nora meant well he knew, but she could be exhausting. "And the one liners, Ren won't let me do those ever since I let an Ursa get away because I forgot what I was going to say. You need to teach me!"  
  
The quiet boy gently unwrapped Nora from both of their shoulders as she gave them a beseeching look. "As soon as they're cleaned up I'm sure they'll discuss it."  
  
"Puns and bantering are going to be a key part of my tenure as leader.." Yang's voice trailed off as she went to the locker rooms Nora following. Jaune looked down at his own sweat and rubble caked clothes, he needed a shower and maybe a tailor.  
  
Just then his scroll buzzed, pulling it open he swore loudly enough Ren looked back to him. "It's nothing." He nodded and continued back towards the ring to watch the next bout.  
  
Just another question, just more of his time stolen, apparently with a bunch more dust by the same group of criminals. "I clued them in to Torchwick and the White Fang, what else do they really need?"  
  
There was a noise from behind him, the stairs to the stands. The black haired girl, something with a B, something floral. "Bryony?"  
  
She gave him a Look, capital L. "No, it's Blake. What were you talking about?"  
  
Jaune snapped his scroll shut after giving the text one more read through. "Side job, I intern with the police." The lie came easily, especially with the truth sounding like the plot of a bad novel. "I did some research for them and they keep asking me about it."  
  
She came down a few steps and her entire appearance, down to her bow seemed to convey curiosity. "About the White Fang?"  
  
"I can't really talk about it, sorry." She took a step closer and then seemed to reconsider, his smell no doubt reaching her as she moved back almost as quickly. If that wasn't a sign he didn't know what was. "I need to clean up anyways, if you're really interested maybe we can talk later?" She was striking, it seemed like a requirement for Beacon, he'd be a fool to pass up the opportunity to spend time with her, let the Arc charm loose a little.  
  
Her shaking head dashed those hopes though. "No thanks, just a whim." Blake's nose twitched again as she edged back further. "Nice fight by the way, I'll let you go get cleaned up."  
  
She vanished up the stairs as Jaune headed to the showers, already dreaming about hot water and hot girls who weren't shooting him down, or even up through the ceiling.


	3. Chapter 3

Plaster didn’t wash out that easily. Jaune had really thought that a simple rinse would get rid of it, but the dust had turned into a greyish gritty slime that took ages to remove. He hadn’t minded though, more time in the shower meant more time to not be thinking about whatever the mighty minds of the Valean police force were worried about. The pounding water was also a distraction from his entire body. Yang had just kept getting stronger, and at the end he felt as if he’d been pulped by a meat tenderizer. Even with armor her shotgun shells hurt, to say nothing of her fists.  
  
All good things came to an end and eventually he had to leave the showers and return to the stands. Part of the combat class was post battle analysis. Goodwitch would pick on random students and ask for summaries and critiques of their fights. Even if he’d be able to use his semblance to fill in the blanks she’d know, missing seeing too many duels was just begging to be made an example of.  
  
Sliding into the row with the rest of his team he saw Yang had beaten him back, hardly showing any signs of their fight. He didn’t want her to be injured of course, but it would be nice if she didn’t look entirely unscathed after spending ten minutes smashing him through and into masonry. She glanced over as he dropped down next to her, giving him a quick inspection. She took her role as team leader seriously, incongruously so.  
  
“So Jaune,” she paused, her face shifting to her pre-terrible joke expression, “are you ceiling ok?” Yang didn’t force a pun in every sentence, but right now it kind of felt like it.  
  
“Well I’m not dead yet.”  
  
“Better than what’s her name from team Chrome,” Jaune didn’t need his semblance to know very well that Yang knew the girl’s name. She’d been barely able to conceal laughter whenever they met, some story from Signal the girl would never live down.  
  
“If you make a joke about Cherry losing like that Nora might cry.” It was always a surprise to hear Ren speak, he had this way of fading into the background. Yang and Nora also had a way of filling the foreground, but still he had superpowers that made him good at noticing things. Ignoring any of his friends made him feel guilty.  
  
“That is completely not what I was going to say.” Yang wilted, as much as it was possible for her to, beneath their stares. “Fine, whatever.” The entrance of Pyrrha Nikos and the rest of her team into the arena gave her the chance to change the subject. “So do you think that any of them will even hit her this time?”  
  
Jaune had only fought Pyrrha once, right when the semester started and Goodwitch was still sorting out their rankings. The only positive he could think of was that it had been quick, the champion turning into a maelstrom of armored blows and lightning quick blades. He didn’t envy her teammates who had to fight her, Pyrrha had trounced entire teams before without even breaking a sweat. The three of them hastily conferred while Pyrrha waited, either confident or polite enough for them to plot. The professor’s signal ended that.  
  
Schnee, Ruby, and oh Blake the curious, spread out trying to surround Pyrrha. She didn’t let them. Tearing his eyes away from the curb stomp, at first it was fun to watch her fight then it just got monotonous, he looked to his partner. She was nervous, intent on watching her sister who was using her massive rifle to fire at Pyrrha as the other two stayed close.  
  
They were actually making a fight out of it. Blake and Schnee were staying on opposite sides of the champion, as soon as she pressed one of them Ruby’s slugs and the other would attack. She was still winning though, not a single hit had landed yet, even the ones she couldn’t have seen coming. Something twinged at that realization, his semblance churning away at a problem. Pyrrha was dodging and moving so fluidly it seemed random, but watching her she always kept one of her opponents between her and Ruby. She was denying the short girl a clear shot, even as she finally got Schnee on the ropes. Pyrrha had smashed her rapier away then delivered a hard blow with her shield that threw the girl to the ground.  
  
That’s when it happened, Blake actually landed a hit. Her swords had unfolded into some sort of ribbon pistol and it had swung smoothly- right into the back of Pyrrha’s head. Everyone was still for an instant, except for Pyrrha. She spun with the hit and shot Blake three times in the face before continuing her turn and flinging her shield like a discus to knock Schnee out of the fight and charged Ruby, somehow catching her shield as it bounced away from Schnee’s head.  
  
Ruby was alone against her sprinting leader, she emptied her magazine at Pyrrha before blurring forward with a shower of petals. Her speed was such that it could be mistaken for teleportation, combined with her scythe she could deliver hits that were completely out of proportion to her size. It didn’t matter. Pyrrha dodged it, sliding across the floor before bringing her spear now rifle to her shoulder. Ruby was caught at range, not able to use her semblance before Pyrrha drained her aura with the same three headshots that had downed Blake.  
  
Goodwitch called a halt as the team gathered in the center of the ring, Schnee accepting Blake’s hand to get unsteadily to her feet. The four of them left the arena as Goodwitch signaled for the classes attention.  
  
“This is my last class with you this week, I’ll be accompanying some of you on your trip to Forever Fall.” She looked up at where they were sitting, her eyes then flicking up towards another team. “I expect those of you not coming this week will act appropriately for the lecturer in my absence.”  
  
With that they dispersed, a hum filling the room as the other students packed their bags. Yang was already standing, no doubt to check on her sister. Ren and Nora were still seated, the quiet boy patiently picking up the detritus resulting from a bored Nora. Yang’s scroll buzzed then, she flipped it open with a practiced motion. Her eyes scanned it, before she looked to them, her grin incandescent. “Good news boys and girl,” she snapped it shut with authority, “we’re going on a field trip.”  


 

_____

  
Three days of procrastination later found Jaune sitting in a bullhead, staring at his own scroll as he tried to make sense of the latest police reports. His notebook on his lap was covered in notes, an absurd diagram that he normally would have made fun of was his attempt to tie everything together. It was still Torchwick and he was sure that the White Fang was the buyer. Their motives though, they were opaque. He had first thought that they were just getting supplies, a stockpile of untraceable dust for their agents. That hypothesis had fallen apart weeks ago when they kept stealing more and more. Even assuming that they were hilariously inefficient at processing the stuff they had enough for twenty years of operations at their current pace.  
  
Next was that they were deliberately attacking the Schnees, he took a quick glance over at Weiss who glared back, but their agents had started hitting stores not just warehouses and wholesale quantities of dust. Animus, was that a speciest word? he wasn’t an etymologist- against the Schnees might explain their slightly disproportionate victimization. They were bleeding the SDC of course, but insurance premium increases wouldn’t hurt them too much. It also wasn’t the way the White Fang could attack them most efficiently. Assassinations and mass property destruction was more their style when they wanted to make a statement.  
  
Maybe it was a change of personnel or leadership in the White Fang? At least one of their strike teams had dropped off the radar recently. Perhaps this was just an entirely new strategy driven by a fresh face. Whatever it was he needed more data, some piece to put the puzzle together.  
  
His scroll vibrated, a text from his leader who was looking at him from across the bullhead.  
  
_Stop burning aura detective._  
  
He hadn’t realized Yang could see their aura levels, it made sense of course but it was always a surprise to have Yang step up as a leader outside of combat. She and Nora were usually goofing around, enjoying themselves while Jaune and Ren shifted from unwitting accomplices to ‘cramps on their infinite style.’  
  
He only had six more reports to read through though, if he wasn’t focusing the cost would be minimal. It would be nice to be fully caught up too. If he cracked the case he wouldn’t have to worry about whatever terrorists were up to.  


 

_Five more minutes_

_  
If you drop below 90% I’m throwing it out the door._

 

_How will you keep track of me then?_

_I could run out in my ignorance._

  
_I’ll just bank on your infinite reserves._  
  
_What did you do to get that much anyway?_  


 

_Play your cards right Ms. Xiao Long, and you might find out._

  
He looked up to see Yang’s reaction, her smirk was enough to convince him he’d made a mistake. Jaune ducked back down to the casefiles, praying that something would distract her from whatever she was planning. This one was different from the rest, a Vale shop had been robbed but the crime had been interrupted by Huntress and a trainee, one Ruby Rose. Huh, small world.  
  


 

_I didn’t know your sister was into vigilante justice._

_  
What are you talking about?_  
  
  
Jaune sent her the file. It was technically, well actually it was completely illegal sharing of information, and her eyes narrowed as she read it. She bumped her sister who had been zoning out with her massive headphones and what looked like an intense discussion resulted. Yang was distracted, success at the low low cost of five to ten years and a fine not below ten thousand lien.  
  
She wasn’t the only distracted one. Blake was suddenly sitting next to him. The bullhead was loud sure, but it was also tiny, how could he not have noticed her moving? Beacon had too many absurdly stealthy students. If Nora wouldn’t murder them all as a result he would try to hook Ren up with her, maybe with two of them together they’d be noticeable. Blake had her scroll out too and was holding it or him to read it. Hadn’t she ever heard of texting?  
  
_The White Fang is stealing dust?_  
  
Jaune was about to deny it when she pointed at his lap- no his notebook. He looked down, that conclusion was circled and in bold at the top of the page. He had a feeling Blake might see through his reflexive denial. Well he’d already committed that crime today, the penalties wouldn’t necessarily increase.

 

  
_Boatloads._

_Well trainloads and truckfuls._

_No boats yet._

_Maybe they don’t like water_?

  
Blake looked at him sharply then, golden eyes glaring. He could almost see her bow twitching- that’s why she wore a bow! Ears! She was a faunus, a cat faunus! She might be a ninja but he could still figure some things out.  


 

_Wait was that speciest?_

_I didn’t mean to make a cat joke._

  
She looked panicked then, why? Oh of course. Jaune groaned and put his head in his hands before typing out another message.  


 

_Sorry._

_I didn’t realize it was a secret._

_Obvious in retrospect, I won’t tell anyone._

  
That mollified her a little, but she still had a mix of anger, fear and embarrassment. Looking at the third team, Winchester and his neanderthals, he could understand why she was keeping her nature hidden. Well done Jaune, another girl you’ve managed to offend.  
  
Oh and one more, Pyrrha had noticed her partner’s distress and was glaring at him. It was with immense relief that he noted the jump light igniting, getting off the bullhead seemed like an excellent idea.


	4. Chapter 4

Surrounded by his team, well hiding behind Yang, made Jaune feel much more secure about Pyrrha’s glares and Blake’s clear annoyance. Really if she wanted to keep her species secret maybe she shouldn’t have sat next to the person she knew researched for the police. His semblance might have given him an edge, but surely she could understand the risks she was taking. Pyrrha didn’t look like the type who took excuses though, staying behind Yang seemed like a wise choice.  
  
Goodwitch chose that moment to descend from a bullhead, it and its wingmate shifted into motion as soon as she exited. Jaune knew her semblance kept her in the air, but was open to the idea that the professor had simply glared gravity into submission. It was enough to draw attention though, she alighted on the ground and all eyes were on her.  
  
“Your task has been communicated to you already.” She looked at the team leaders, Yang Pyrrha and Cardin straightening almost involuntarily. “I will be leaving here in six hours, if you have enough sap you will be coming with me.” She pulled out her scroll and glanced at it, when she looked up there was a glint in her eyes. “It’s a long walk back to Vale you know.” That was enough to get the three teams moving, towards the forest but in decidedly different directions.  
  
They had only just penetrated the treeline far enough to be out of sight of Goodwitch when Yang held up a fist to stop all of them. “I don’t know about you guys but I’m too pretty to walk all the way back.” She paused, a serious look crossing her face. “Well actually I know Nora is. Ren and Jaune- I’m undecided.” Nora gave her a fist bump as Ren and Jaune shared a look. “So we are getting enough sap, and more than the other teams. Ruby won’t let me hear the end of it if they win, and I can promise you that you won’t either.” She locked eyes with each of them in sequence, trying to convey the importance of sibling one-upsmanship through sheer force of will.  
  
At last satisfied, she nodded. “That said I have a three part plan," she held up one hand, a single finger outstretched. "Part one: I didn’t want to get upstaged on facts by our trivia machine here so I did a little research. The most productive trees are the ones with the most sun exposure. Following that the thicker the better. Drill them.” She threw a leer in as she raised a second finger. “Part two: Grimm and other varmints are attracted to the sap, Goodwitch said we needed enough to get on the bullhead so we can drink it all later, Nora.” The girl looked momentarily abashed but the promise of future sap seemed to persuade her. “Part three: We’re in the middle of a forest filled with annoying beasts, and there’s Grimm too. We’ll need to split up to get the most trees tapped but we’ll be staying with our partners. If anything goes wrong, shout or call. Worst case scenario Goodwitch shows up and we get a bad grade.” With that she turned and started walking uphill, after a second the others followed.  
  
Yang and Jaune had reached the top of a ridgeline and then split from their team, Nora’s excitement about the prospect of unlimited sap leading her to drag Ren towards the south. Jaune had been carrying the taps and set his backpack down to pull out the equipment.  
  
“So what did you do to get Blake and Pyrrha pissed off at you?” Yang was hammering the little metal tubes into holes drilled into the trunks as she spoke, one punch per spigot.  
  
“Well you know about my deal with the police.”  
  
She looked up from the piping she was arranging to drain into a jar. “For something that’s ‘classified,'” her gauntlets really added something to air quotes, “you never really shut up about it.”  
  
“I’m not that bad.” Only silence from Yang greeted that. “Am I?”  
  
“It’s like the fourth thing you bring up whenever you meet someone.”  
  
“Oh,” suddenly the contents of the backpack were far more interesting.  
  
“I mean, say what you want about Pyrrha but she doesn’t lead off with ‘Hey I won the Mistral Tournament once, and then three more times.” Yang stood, apparently satisfied with the arrangement of tubes and hoses. “You don’t need to compensate for not being the best fighter by talking about the cool things you’ve done. Ren doesn’t mention that he’s the only master of the Lotus style alive.”  
  
Wait what. “Is he?”  
  
Yang shrugged elaborately, aware as always that it did interesting things. “Nora says so, so maybe?” She hefted her own backpack. “That aside, you were explaining how you got the invincible girl angry at you.”  
  
“Well while engaged in classified research Blake came by to ask some questions about it.”  
  
His leader pulled a branch out of the way and held it as they kept walking. “And?”  
  
“Well in the course of events I might have mentioned that I knew she was a faunus.” Yang swore and let go of the branch..  
  
“What the hell Yang?” It had whipped back into his face and had hurt, aura or not. He might be the only one, but he liked his eyes blue, not ruptured.  
  
“Blake’s a faunus? You just drop that and expect me not to react?” Birds fluttered into the air from her shout, Jaune looked around nervously for anything black and spiky that had decided to investigate.  
  
“I don’t quite think they heard you in Vacuo, want to try again?”  
  
She huffed, annoyed, and kept going. “Why’d you tell me? Wait hold on, why’d you tell her?”  
  
Jaune was next to her now, he didn’t want a repetition of the incident. “I’m bad at keeping secrets, you know that. I’m also kind of bad at knowing when things are secret.”  
  
“She’s worn a bow the entire time we’ve known her, I’m guessing it’s hiding something- ears?” At Jaune’s nod she continued. “She never even spoke up about Winchester, even when I threw him through the window for being a jerk to what’s her name.”  
  
“Like I said to her, the secret part was obvious in retrospect.”  
  
“So Blake’s annoyed because you figured it out, and Pyrrha’s annoyed because you annoyed her partner.”  
  
“That about sums it up.”  
  
They’d reached another tree and Yang set her backpack down, the jars in it clinking. “Well nothing we can do about it now. It’s probably best just to keep your head down and pray you don’t draw Pyrrha in a spar.”  
  
Jaune involuntarily recalled her boot flashing towards his face, the last thing he remembered from their fight. “Well I was already praying for that, along with everyone else I think.”  
  
Yang knelt, starting to drill a hole in the tree she’d chosen’s trunk. “I'm not.”  
  
He passed her a tap. “We’ll you’re you. The girl who blew up a nightclub for fun.”  
  
She glanced up, her tone was offended but her face showed that to be a lie. “It wasn’t for fun, it was for a very important mission that I seem to recall you promised to help with.” Jaune just raised an eyebrow and she folded. “Fine, it wasn’t _just_ for fun. Have you had a chance to look at all?”  
  
Jaune kept handing Yang supplies as he thought. The disappearance of Raven Branwen was pretty much the definition of a cold case and while his semblance could do a lot, fifteen years of nothing was a hard nut to crack. Not to mention there had been plenty of others who’d looked, from what he had access to he hadn’t really drawn any new conclusions. “Not too much yet-”  
  
He was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass and red across Yang’s chest.  
  
“Yang!” He tackled her to the ground, she needed to be out of whoever had shot her’s sight. He rolled to his feet, sword and shield out as he put his back to a tree and scanned for the sniper. Yang’s laughter stopped him. He looked at her, laughter, probably from shock, she had blood all over her chest, glass shards sticking to it, her blood was sticky and viscous, like syrup, maybe hyperglycemia, like-  
  
“It’s just sap.” Yang got up easily and looked at her shirt with some dismay. “The top is ruined I think.”  
  
It took an effort of will but he relaxed, and found himself speaking. “Dishwashing detergent might work, I bet Ren knows better.” He collapsed his shield, it felt awkward to have it out now that they weren’t seemingly in danger.  
  
“Who do you think threw it?” Yang was carefully plucking the glass from the sap, just because with her aura it couldn’t hurt didn’t mean it was smart to leave it.  
  
He and his sisters had taken their rivalries pretty far on occasion, her little sister didn’t seem the type but, “Ruby?” Yang shook her head, “Cardin then, he knows he can’t win a fight with any of us so he’s stooping to pranks.”  
  
“That window was too good for him.” Yang pulled off her shirt then hastily zipped her jacket as Jaune forced himself to look away. “Next time we get to see how deep the foundations go.” She seemed to consider the matter closed with that and turned back to their tree. “On the bright side that’s one fewer jar they have, maybe we should go break the rest of theirs so they have to walk.”  
  
It was an appealing thought, seeing team Cardinal covered in sap and forced to trek overland would be amazing, but any time spent searching them out meant time they weren’t extracting sap. Walking with them would ruin the fun for sure. Speaking of time, how much did they care that they were willing to track them down and waste a jar? How long had they been there and how close?  
  
“Do you think they heard?”  
  
Yang was packing up but paused. “Heard what- about Blake?” Jaune nodded then realized she couldn’t see it so answered verbally. She spent another second thinking and then started loading her equipment again. “Maybe, but even if they did Blake won’t let him bully her, and neither will Pyrrha.”  
  
“If nothing else this confirms I’m not the only one bad at keeping secrets.”  
  
Yang tossed his backpack at him with just a bit more force than necessary. “Whatever. We’ll worry about it on the bullhead, we still have a mission.”  
  
Eventually they met back up with Nora and Ren, the quiet boy looking frazzled as with every step he clanked, his backpack was full of the jars. Nora was ebullient, the prospect of a sugary overdose motivating her as they trekked back down towards the landing zone.  
  
“Do you think we have enough? We could have gotten more but I didn’t want to carry so much that we couldn’t fight. We got the sap for ourselves, not the grimm like those thirty greedy goliaths I killed!”  
  
After half a semester both of them knew to look to Ren for a more accurate story. “Just an ursa.”  
  
“But a big one!” Nora gave both of them a searching look. “Did either of you find anything? What happened to your shirt Yang? Is that why you wanted to split up? If you wanted privacy you only had to ask.”  
  
“Cardin.” Yang growled out. “It was Cardin.”  
  
If anything that made Nora more concerned. “I’m not trying to criticize fearless leader, but you can do better! Even Jaune-”  
  
“Hey!” Both of them shouted, although Yang sounded far more angry, with a wave he deferred to her.  
  
“Cardin hit me with a jar of sap, I certainly wasn’t looking for privacy with the detective here.” There was a long pause as Nora visibly sighed in relief. “No offense Jaune.”  
  
“Not too much taken.” With that they broke into the clearing, there was a single larger bullhead on the ground with its engines spun up. Glynda was standing in front of the door with her eyes on her scroll.  
  
“Any longer and I would have left you Ms. Xiao Long.” She looked at Jaune and Ren, both carrying backpacks entirely full of sap. “I think you have enough.”  
  
Nora’s squeal of joy was enough to deafen and Jaune was never more grateful for his aura. Bleeding from the ears looked miserable. They climbed aboard, the other two teams’ eyes widened as they set down the bags. Each of the others only had a jar a piece, not the gallons they’d found. Nora immediately opened one and began guzzling the thick liquid. When the copilot walked close she nearly growled. “I’m afraid we’ll have to get rid of some cargo, too much weight.” Nora’s scream then was even louder.  
  
After that the ride was uneventful, he’d managed to get a seat in a corner as far from Blake and Pyrrha as possible, and seemed to have dodged a bullet. That feeling lasted until the end of the trip. They had just landed when Cardin got up to stand in front of Blake, she glanced up at him as the engines shut off. With incongruous swiftness his hand moved, he ripped her bow free and his words were clearly audible.  
  
“So why’d you only tell Jaune you’re a faunus?”  
  
She was up in a second, her sword, no sheath, brutally smashing the larger boy down. She stood for a second, her golden eyes wide as she stared at the silent audience, then she vanished into the night. Pyrrha was after her instantly, pausing only to give Cardin a kick to the ribs that left them visibly deformed, and to throw a look at Jaune that promised pain. Then she and the rest of her team were gone.  
  
“Well the cat’s out of the bag then.” Jaune could only look to his partner in shock. “Too soon?”


	5. Chapter 5

 Their room was quiet, an utterly foreign state of affairs. Part of it could be explained by Nora and Ren having left to make up her sugar deficit, but Yang was normally allergic to silence. He had been sneaking glances at her over the past half hour and she was about to explode. She didn’t disappoint.

“Up and at ‘em!” She jumped off her bed into a handspring, Yang was relentlessly kinetic, and landed standing over him. “You need to get your mind off the whole Blake thing, and I have the perfect solution!”

“Drinking?” His question was simultaneous with her answer, she was far louder and more certain though.

Jaune sat up, if only to avoid being pulled up. He started looking for his jacket, while making a token protest. “Neither of us is legal.”

“And we’re both enterprising young people, driven to succeed in our goals at all costs!” Yang would consider the importance of her amusement equal to saving the world. “And I have an in with the bar.”

Jaune pulled his jacket on and stood for Yang’s inspection. She gave a nod that suggested he was slightly better dressed than the hobos by the docks. “And a fake?”

She yanked the ID card from her pocket and held it out triumphantly. “And a fake!”

“Well then,” he pulled their door open giving Yang an overly formal bow to usher her through, “I can’t think of any problems.”

Their hall was quiet. Pyrrha’s team had followed Blake wherever she had gone, and it was just late enough that everyone who was going to have left was gone. Only the introverts or the dedicated remained, and they didn’t fill the halls with the same volume that people like Nora seemed to casually exude. Naturally Yang was irrepressible despite that, shadow-boxing and commenting on the failings and embarrassments of the other teams as they passed their doors, just loud enough that they could hear through the walls.

It was almost enough to make Jaune wish he’d gone to Signal, even if he’d only participated in a fraction of Yang’s adventures he would have had far more fun than during his homeschooling. He’d fallen slightly behind as he thought, and she was looking impatiently over her shoulder. Who was he fooling? If he’d been at Signal he’d have just been a side character in one of her more boring stories. Maybe.

They emerged into the night air, moving towards the edge of campus. “So how are we getting there? When’s the next bullhead?”

Yang threw him a pitying look. “Jaune, do you know who rides bullheads to Vale?” He followed her and they took a sharp turn from the path, dropping down a set of stairs concealed, concealed well, behind some shrubs. The flight led to an underground parking garage, filled with cargo trucks, snow plows, lawnmowers. Sitting with pride of place, two spots on either side left empty, was a motorcycle, Yang’s motorcycle. “Bitches ride bullheads to Vale. Of course,” she straddled her bike, “you’re still riding bitch so I’m not sure it’s too much of an improvement.”

“Really?” She offered him a helmet then seemed to reconsider, somehow fitting her head and hair into it.

“Really really,” she revved the motor, “now get on, you’re wasting time.” Jaune briefly thought about mentioning that the whole thing was her idea, then realized it didn’t matter. Besides being pressed against Yang was something he was not entirely opposed to. He was a teenager after all, it was practically expected of him.

He was barely on before they were going, he had half expected Yang to burnout but she apparently cared more about her tires than appearances. That’s not to say they were going slow, they passed the ten miles an hour sign going fifty and she only accelerated when they left the garage.

With their auras neither Yang nor Jaune truly needed a helmet. Anything that could injure them would trivially shatter the plastic, but he would have liked one just for the noise. It would have also been nice to talk, if only to have something to distract himself from the sharp and fast curves as Yang navigated the switchbacks down towards the city. He’d mostly conquered his motion sickness, but mostly didn’t really cover squeezing past a truck on the scary side.

Jaune was more than a little relieved when they hit the city limits and decelerated to a more reasonable fifteen over. The only thing that could slow Yang down was the automated traffic cameras, his semblance informed him that she had four points on her license and another ticket would lead to her father taking her bike and a year long suspension. She still accelerated from the lights like they had personally offended her, speed was something both of the siblings craved. They drove deeper into the city, passing the business districts and going further as the buildings became more industrial. At last they stopped, the thumping of a deep bass pulsing through the air.

The two of them dismounted, Yang taking far more time than he thought was warranted to deal with her hair. At last, after several completely egregious head shakes that he didn’t need his semblance to know were just to annoy him, they started moving towards the source of the music.

“So you might have guessed that we’re not only here so that you can drown your totally unnecessary guilt.” Jaune raised an eyebrow and she punched him, lightly for her, in the shoulder. “I drink for free here though, so you can totally do the drowning thing though.”

From her grin he knew she wasn’t telling the whole story, it only took a touch of his power to get the gist of it. “You beat up the bartender.”

“Not just the bartender.” For a normal person that would be enough both to positively identify the bar as well as marking it as a no go zone. Not for Yang, she had mentioned at least three similar occurrences and from Ruby’s sighs there were probably more.

“So this is the one you told me about? With the information broker?”

She nodded as the bouncers noticed their approach. Grown men shouldn’t have cowered like that. “Yeah, Junior to his friends, aka-”

“Hei Xiong, I’ve heard of him.” They entered unopposed, the fake Yang had been so proud of not even required. “You know, usually the real name comes first, then nicknames follow the aka.”

“Whatever, people say he knows everything.”

“People say _I_ know everything.”

It was her time to raise an eyebrow. “Do any of these ‘people’ know you?” The noise of the dance floor would have swallowed any reply Jaune made, instead he just followed his leader as she cut through the crowd or ground it under depending on the dancers’ senses of self preservation.

The bar was elevated, letting them overlook the crowded floor. The man at the bar, a weedy little fellow saw Yang and nearly ran to make a pink drink with enough sugar to kill a diabetic. She received the glass with an imperious glare, and swirled it, considering the cocktail like a particularly snobby sommelier. The bartender cowered until she took a tiny sip and then gave a nod. “My friend will have a scotch and soda.” He nodded and she looked to Jaune for confirmation. “That’s what detectives drink right?”

It was in his hand almost immediately and for a second he didn’t know what to do with it. Sure he’d snuck some drinks with his sisters at home and with friends in the dorms but sitting in a bar was new. Naturally he tried deflection. “I didn’t really expect the literary reference there.”

“You can’t make blonde jokes. Besides, I like the cliches, and we’re drinking after a feline fatale ran off. It kind of fits.”

Jaune shrugged and drank. “I’m bad at keeping secrets, I still feel bad about spilling hers,” the second sip went down smoother, “and I told her I wouldn’t tell anyone.”

Yang laughed as she set down her half empty drink. “That lasted.” She plucked the umbrella from her glass and with the faintest touch of aura planted it into the bar. “But really, it would have come out sooner or later. She’s just being a drama queen and her whole team is looking for her.”

“So that’s why we’re here, so we’re close at hand if anything happens to Ruby.”

Yang was looking at the straw she held and the bar speculatively, he took it before she could scar the surface further. “Well a little. But that remark clearly shows while I’m the leader, my plan has three parts.”

Having fun, helping Ruby, the owner was an information broker- “Your mother.”

Her eyes flashed red as she rose. “What about my mother!” Yang’s indignation vanished as quickly as it appeared as she collapsed laughing. “Got you!” She took another sip and nearly snorted trying to hold in her laughter. “You should have seen your face- does your semblance let you appreciate how funny things are from other people’s point of view?”

“Only when they actually have a sense of humor. And sapience.”

“So not Yang then.” The rumbling voice came from a man who shouldn’t have approached unseen. He was enormous, enough that he might have had actual bear, not faunus, ancestry. “We just got cleaned up from your last visit, planning on a repeat?”

“Of course not,” she pressed the little umbrella completely into the bar with a single finger. “We’re here with questions.”

“Who's your friend?” Yang’s display of force hadn’t fazed him, presumably it didn’t measure up to being launched through a window.

“He’s Jaune.” He lifted his glass briefly in acknowledgement. “He’s helping with my inquiries.”

Junior gave him a quizzical stare, a moment longer than Jaune would have liked, then turned back to Yang. She was about to ask her questions, if he wanted to help he’d need to use his ability actively. Go time then, he let loose his semblance and the world sharpened.

Junior, Hei Xiong, dislikes nickname, dislikes Yang, dislikes the DJ, prefers jazz- interesting but irrelevant. It took an instant but he forced his power down another path. He runs the club, carries a club, carries extra staff, extras part of his gang- no he’s a broker, he hires them out- “How do you know Roman Torchwick?”

Junior and Yang looked at him in surprise for interrupting. Junior looked as if he was going to be recalcitrant then Yang casually sank her hand into the metal bar, deforming the surface with a screech that cut through the music. “He hired some of my men, the job went south.”

“Dust robbery right?” Junior nodded, so far so good. “Who’s he working for?”

“He’s working for someone?” Not quite a lie, Junior was confident even if he didn’t know for sure. Jaune looked to Yang and she clenched her fist through the bar, ending with a chunk of steel in her hand. “I don’t know who-”

“But you’ve got ideas right?” Yang was apparently tired of being the muscle, bad cop was more her style anyway. “Want to share with the class?”

“The White Fang.” Junior was trying to keep his voice down, but it was a lost cause as he rumbled. “They’re hitting the Schnees and then Torchwick picks up right where they left off? You don’t need to be Source Yellow to figure that out.” Knowing that the rumors on the street matched his suspicions was nice, but he could only hope Yang missed the codename.

“Source Yellow?” No the universe hated him. Her grin was far wider than it should have been. “What’s that?”

“Some program the PD has going, people say it’s a computer that tells the future.”

“Really?” The detective jokes had been bad enough, this opened a whole new front for her. “Sounds a little farfetched.”

“Maybe, I’ve seen the reports though. It doesn’t look like anything a person would write, lots of awkward phrases and the occasional complete lack of human understanding.” Junior poured himself a drink, laughing to himself. “I shit you not, one time-”

Yang’s scroll ringing was the absolute best thing that could have happened. She glanced at it, swore, and swung away from the bar. “You alright?” Ruby’s voice was distinguishable, even if the words weren’t. His leader broke into a run and Jaune followed.

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

During her entrance to the bar Yang had knocked people down on the dance floor due to her rough sense of humor, this time her urgency left a wake of scattered groaning bodies. She paused for a second seeing the thickening crowds between her and the exit- then her aura flared. The window provided less of an obstacle. The club went silent, the DJ seemed to be cowering and even in Vale the sight of a girl with flaming hair flying out a window was unusual. Jaune looked at the suddenly still party and felt he needed to do something, no one was born ready to experience Yang. There was only one thing to say. “Sorry about the mess.”  
  
Two steps for speed and a hop later he was in the street watching Yang leave a smoking strip behind her bike as she screamed off. “Well that’s just typical.” He reached for his scroll. He hadn’t brought his weapons, a foolish choice in retrospect, and he really wanted to try the rocket lockers. Something, maybe the barest hint of his power, maybe just his gut, told him that he didn’t have time to lose waiting for them. Resisting the urge to curse overprotective sisters, closeted overdramatic faunus, and invincible girls who who could beat him hard enough that he’d feel it eating cereal for the rest of his life, he broke into a sprint.  
  
Jaune was fast, not Ruby fast, not real hunter fast, but being strong turned into speed over short distances. Fortunately he had enough aura to burn that everything was a short distance. He could keep up with the cars on the street, leading him to share an awkward glance with some truck driver that he kept pace with. It was a relief when his semblance told him Yang had gone right, in that extended moment he had learned far more about the habits of the sort of people who drove trucks through the docks after midnight than anyone needed.  
  
The chase continued, his scroll one push away from launching half a ton of steel towards him, when he heard the first gunshots. He didn’t really hear them- to anyone else they would have faded into the background- but when he was pushing aura into his semblance he could do a pretty good faunus imitation. He’d found them.  
  
Based on the noise they were about a mile away, he’d cover that in two minutes at his current pace and the rockets were supposed to take around thirty seconds to reach anywhere in the city. He looked down at the glowing glass and metal contraption as his legs kept pumping mechanically. If he wanted to arrive armed and waste the least time waiting he needed his weapons ahead of him, yet the lockers only went to pre-programmed locations or that of the scroll itself at launch. His scroll was pretty solid, it should fly well and the third best thing about having seven sisters was that there was always a scroll upgrade available. They probably wouldn’t mind if his replacement was new. He hit the button as his arm blurred forward, he’d lost that scroll for the last time. Hopefully his saved games would transfer, he had a good set of letters in his most recent contest.  
  
His locker was visible almost immediately after its launch, its rocket drive sending smoke billowing into the night. People all over the city would see it, some would come to investigate, perhaps even his team. His team, who he could have called before his scroll had shattered into a million little pieces. Oh well, Nora would probably forgive them eventually. Maybe.  
  
Right on schedule his locker landed and embedded itself in the ground, he didn’t bother punching in the combination before ripping the door off to pull out Crocea Mors and the first piece of armor he could find. He looked ridiculous, sprinting through the dark streets with his armor bouncing and a sheathed sword in his hands. The gunshots though, those were serious. ‘You can’t do much wrong if you march to the sound of the guns’ his father had always told him. It was a quote from some general, some successor to his famous ancestor, but he couldn’t remember whom and couldn’t spare the power to find out. He was getting close to the sound of the guns though, lots of them. Ruby’s artillery piece rose above the rest, as did her sister’s gauntlets. Pyrrha’s rifle sounded occasionally, but for the most part he just heard pistols.  
  
He rounded the last corner and nearly stopped in surprise. Pyrrha’s team was battling a horde of masked White Fang fighters and Blake, Blake was fighting Roman Torchwick. They were more than holding their own, even without Yang’s gleeful pummeling of anyone who even looked towards her sister. He wasn’t really sure he was needed, but he’d just sprinted three miles and lost his scroll, he was fighting.  
  
It was easy, insanely so. Fighting against other hunters in training had given him a completely skewed perspective on what combat was like. He dodged their shots, those he didn’t choose to let wash over his shield or slash from the air. Their masks couldn’t hide their fear as he approached and with the way he was pushing his power he didn’t have to wonder what they thought of him. One of them- braver than the rest, a rodent faunus, always compensating against stereotypes, has a dog, no girlfriend has a dog, was ahead of the others attacking or trying to. Jaune’s shield bash took two others down with him, it left the rat faunus sprawled on the ground and wondering if that was the end. “Just broken ribs, you’ll make it to jail.”  
  
Then there were more. Jaune stopped blocking, weaving through the blows as he charged towards Blake. She was good but Torchwick looked better, he was having fun as he fought. Jaune was under no illusions as to his skill level, the mooks he was decimating regardless, but when he had fought Blake it could have easily gone the other way. Sometimes the ability to take a hit and keep on going was all that was needed. Knowing that didn’t make taking Torchwick’s cane to the face feel any better.  
  
Jaune got to his feet, embarrassingly he’d almost rolled off the edge of the shipping container they were on. Blake moved to keep Torchwick between them, the criminal didn’t seem concerned by the sudden change in the odds. “I hadn’t thought there were so many attracted to catgirls before tonight, but you learn a new thing-”  
  
Blake didn’t let the banter stop her, she blurred forward, figuratively then literally as a clone of her split off. Torchwick spun away from her true attack and deftly turned aside Jaune’s slash, ending his parry with his cane pointed right at Jaune’s face. For once his semblance didn’t need to announce the obvious and Jaune managed to catch the first shot on his shield before the second hit the ground at his feet and knocked him back.  
  
Torchwick was too busy to capitalize, Blake had gotten inside his guard and he was hard pressed to keep her from landing a blow. Jaune got his feet slowly, without his scroll he didn’t have a firm idea on how much aura he had left, but he was pretty confident it wasn’t much. That didn’t change things though. He advanced deliberately, Crocea Mors high as Blake kept dueling.  
  
This time he blocked both of Torchwick’s hits, and Jaune's probing counter left him exposed to Blake who took advantage. The redhead fell to the ground hard, his hat rolling away, before he was back on his feet shooting at them. Jaune stepped in front of Blake with his shield leveled, she could have dodged but he was the one carrying a few square feet of metal around, there was no need for her to waste energy. Instead she jumped over him, she’d used the shielded area behind him to accelerate as she fell towards Torchwick with both swords chopping down.  
  
He had both hands on his cane as he thrust her swords to the side, Blake almost stumbled from his redirection before his hard shove left her on the ground vulnerable and out for the moment. Jaune landed then and Torchwick had to block, or try to, to avoid having his head join his hat. He had the initiative for two more swings before Torchwick caught his balance and landed a hard blow to Jaune’s gut, just below the armor. Hits always hurt, aura didn’t stop the pain, but that one was more, he knew that had left a mark. The criminal knew it too.  
  
“I never really saw the point of armor,” he brushed some dirt, actual grime, not just for show, from his coat as he advanced. “If you ever really need it whoever you’re fighting will just carve through it, and it doesn’t even look good. I mean,” he gestured at his mostly gleaming coat, “do you think I wear this for practical reasons? You have to remember,” he surged forward swinging, Jaune caught the hit on his shield but his shoulder gave a crunching sound and his mind filled with white hot pain, “that style is important. It’s a pity you’ll never get a chance to learn kid.” Jaune was still on his feet but barely and he couldn’t raise his shield. Torchwick was taking his time though walking slow. A last effort from his semblance, not worth the cost in aura, told him that the criminal wanted this to be seen. Blake was too far away to help as Torchwick raised his cane and Jaune readied himself for one more exchange. He was an Arc and Arc’s didn’t die-  
  
Then Torchwick was gone and Yang, shining like the sun and burning as hot, was there. “No one on my team needs style advice from a man wearing eyeliner.” She cycled her gauntlets, fresh shells loading and got into her stance, bobbing as she waited for him to rise.  
  
She didn’t get the chance, a short girl was smashed through the wall of a container and rag-dolled on the ground, rolling all the way in front of Roman. The hole in the metal seemed to flex wider and Pyrrha, unscathed as ever, walked out of it smoothy. Seeing that, for the first time the criminal looked nervous. Yang was fresh and blinding, a literal champion was in front of him, and Blake had just caught back up with them. Torchwick scooped up the girl and turned to run, but a sheet of ice appeared blocking the alley. Weiss’s work. Ruby made her appearance then, seeming to materialize on top of a container in of a burst of petals as she aimed her monstrosity down at the man and racked a shell a bit more vigorously than strictly necessary.  
  
“It’s over Torchwick.” Ruby looked almost embarrassed when everyone looked at her, her cheeks brightening to match her dress. “Well none of you were saying anything!”  
  
“We were trying to be intimidating!” It would be Weiss who responded, “Except for Arc, he’s trying to remain conscious.” That would be a good thing to try Jaune realized, he had been enjoying how everything was getting quieter and his semblance wasn’t constantly chiming in with ‘helpful’ facts. If it wasn’t for what he was sure was a broken shoulder and probably a fractured rib or two he might welcome it.  
  
“I’ll let all of you ladies sort that out.” The confidence was back in Torchwick’s voice as he raised his cane to a stereotypical en garde position with the girl bent over his shoulder. “It’s been fun and all but I have things to-” Pyrrha’s spear hit him, he could see where Blake's no monologue policy came from, but instead of dropping he shattered into a thousand pieces of mirror and was gone.  
  
“Well that’s different.” Jaune’s voice seemed to echo as he spoke, the remaining analytical portion of his brain decided that it was a symptom of shock.  
  
Yang, her hair abruptly snuffed, nodded. “Yeah, stinks about the bad luck for Pyrrha though, I‘d saaayyy,” she seemed to count under her breath, “fourteen years minimum.”  
  
“That’s not even real!” Ruby had leapt from her perch to argue, clearly unwilling to let her sister badmouth her leader. “And if it were, you’ll have bad luck till you’re forty three!” It was so oddly specific that Jaune had to ask and Ruby rounded on him. “She got a bad haircut and broke all of her mirrors and one of mine!” Ruby looked apologetic immediately, probably because he had swayed back as she shouted and his motion came with a sound he was disturbingly confident was grinding bone.  
  
“I was eight Ruby, I can’t believe you’re still mad at that.” Yang was looking at him nervously, his left arm with the shield attached was hanging a few inches low. “Jaune normally I mean a psychologist, but I think you need a doctor. A real one.”  
  
Pyrrha, he’d never think a cruel thought about her ever again, was already dialing. Of course she’d have the authorities on speed dial, she was perfect. She flushed for no apparent reason, and Yang wouldn’t stop snickering even as Ruby kept elbowing her for the entire time until the medical bullhead arrived. As the crew strapped him to a stretcher he realized there were some advantages to being the only injured one, he wouldn’t get the lecture he could hear Glynda already giving the others. Oh and Nora might not break his legs for being left out, that shouldn’t be forgotten.


	7. Chapter 7

Jaune couldn’t remember the last time he’d been injured seriously enough to have to take it easy. He’d had his share of childhood accidents, the worst when his sisters had gotten into cheerleading and used him as the flyer in their routine without figuring out the catch. The memory of the broken and dislocated arm had faded though, the way all broken bones did, and all he recalled was the vague impression of ice cream and movies.

Not remembering something clearly was almost as strange as being laid up. Ever since he’d gotten his semblance his mind had sharpened on command, but the time before his aura awoken was as blurry as ever. From what he’d read about memory he’d be permanently changing his recollections each time he thought back, from the messy truth to the precise falsehoods his brain would generate. Fuzzy memories were a part of his childhood and anytime he bothered to remember them they were gone forever. He still thought his semblance was awesome but it did have some unsettling effects.

Spending three days in a brace while his clavicle healed had some unexpected advantages though. For one he missed Nora’s tirade on not including her, Yang had been forced to buy her off with the promise of being team leader for a day of her choice. Another was that he got to ignore the requests for consultations, using the excuse that he needed all of his aura to recuperate. It would only shift his work back when he started again, but it was nice to spend a few days not thinking about the man who’d shattered his bones. The last, and possibly best, was that Pyrrha’s team wasn’t planning on murdering him anymore.

All in all it was a nice little break. He’d just gotten back to their room with a clean bill of health when Yang burst in, instantly shattering the quiet atmosphere.

“Jaune! You’re alive again!” She had of course visited, all their friends had, but for someone with her amount of energy anyone who wasn’t at full throttle might as well be moldering. “Which is excellent news because we’re doing team fights in Goodwitch’s class tomorrow and she said anyone who was missing team members would be missing them.”

He rolled his left shoulder experimentally, not a twinge. “I think we’ll be able to teach whomever we fight a lesson.”

“Excellent!” Ren and Nora entered then, Ren carrying both of their bags per usual. “I mean, we are a crew of badasses, we’d have won without you but-”

“It’s never fun when anyone is left out of a fight right?” Nora for all of her bubbly personality occasionally hit hard. “Especially when they’re just a call away.” She turned from Yang, much to their leader’s joy and rounded on Jaune. “I can understand Yang not thinking of us, but you? That’s like your whole thing.” The short girl, Nora really seemed far larger than she really was, backed Jaune up to his bed with her finger wagging in his face. It should have been comical but she made it work. “What do you have to say for yourself mister?”

Jaune liked to think of himself as a master of excuses, and he had a solid one. “My scroll was broken, I actually still need a new one.”

“A likely story.” She withdrew back just a hair and pointed at Ren. “Ren would you like to speculate on the odds against Jaune’s locker flying to precisely the right time and place without receiving any signal from his ‘broken’ scroll?”

He didn’t look up from his essay to reply. “Not especially.”

“That means no chance.” She took several steps back and looked over her shoulder at Jaune. “So Yang promised me that I could be team leader for a day to make up for her thoughtlessness, I expect something of equal value, as does Ren.”

“Wait, does making you leader count for Ren’s part too?”

“Why wouldn’t it? My taking on the burdens of leadership is really a gift for all you, I expect paeans and thanks.” That seemed to close the matter as she went to join Ren, her presence somehow barely slowing him. The man was a saint.

 

__________

The next day found them in the seats around the arena, the first time Jaune had been there since Yang had smashed him through the ceiling. The matches were about to be announced, Jaune was scanning the other students using his semblance to tease out any weaknesses that he hadn’t already spotted. He couldn’t help but be excited, he’d watched teams fighting on television his whole life and now he was doing it. For the others it wasn’t as new, Signal didn’t have teams but they had four on four matches. Thanks to his homeschooling he’d never really had the chance to try the format.

Yang’s scroll buzzed just as the screen on the far wall lit up. Cardinal was fighting Seafoam, Chrome was fighting Umber, and they were fighting- typical. Pyrrha’s team. Yang and Ruby did some sort of sibling staredown that only ended when Ruby somehow managed to make a come at me bro threatening despite being roughly three feet tall. Jaune couldn’t see any way to interpret that as a good sign.

“So team, it’s the fight we’ve all- shut up Jaune- been waiting for.” Nora seemed to share her fervor, Jaune was reasonably sure that was because they hadn’t had the dubious pleasure of taking one of Pyrrha’s greaves to the face. Ren hadn’t either, but he was phlegmatic enough it was impossible to tell how excited he was, or even if he got excited. “Now, despite his nearly unforgivable lack of enthusiasm, I’m turning the floor over to Jaune-”

“Do we need a gavel?- because I can call the meeting to order.” They all shared a look, imagining what Goodwitch would do to them, before shaking their heads leaving Nora nearly despondent.

“Like I was saying, Jaune give us a rundown on what they’re thinking.”

Exposition, it was Jaune’s favorite. He cracked his knuckles, then his neck for good measure.

“So we’re fighting the top team-”

“Not yet they’re not,” he looked at Yang and she waved her hand languidly for him to continue without further interruptions from her.

“Right, we’re fighting the team who has the highest average ELO rating so far.” There weren’t any objections to that, possibly because they weren’t up on chess ranking systems. “It’s Pyrrha, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby, we all know them and what they can do, just as they know us. We saw them fighting as nearly a whole unit once before which gives us a few ideas on their likely strategy.”

“By all means elucidate.” Yang miming smoking a pipe was not nearly as funny as she thought it was, but it was distracting. He couldn’t help but watch for an instant too long, which she of course caught and smirked at.

“So when they fought Pyrrha they had Blake and Weiss get in close, while Ruby stayed back to snipe.”

“That didn’t work at all though.” Ren speaking up was almost always a surprise but Jaune was flowing so he only gave a sharp nod and went on.

“It didn’t work against Pyrrha, but she’s Pyrrha Nikos. If you weren’t sure, none of us here is actually Pyrrha in disguise.” Nora gave each of them a searching glance before appearing to be persuaded. “The strategy was sound though, keep the target busy while Ruby exploits their distraction to land shots from her cannon.”

“Pyrrha’s on their team now. You think it’ll be the three of them with Ruby staying back to snipe?”

“No, I think it will be Blake and Pyrrha in close with Weiss and Ruby staying back.”

“By partners then?”

“More by role. Weiss can control the field with her glyphs, Ruby needs space to be most efficient. Pyrrha and Blake just have to keep us busy and we’ll be taking shells and ice in the back of our skulls. Worse those glyphs combined with Ruby’s semblance means that if they get a clear enough shot she’ll come blasting in and we’ll get a repeat of what they did to that Nevermore.”

The four of them sat for a moment, watching the last fighters of the first two teams duke it out. As Dove knocked Forest out for the win Yang brought them back to attention.

“Well thanks for the analysis. If none of you have thoughts,” they shook their heads, “I’ll share my plan.” She pulled out a notebook and wrote down each of their opponents’ names. “So Jaune wasn’t wrong, they do have the best rankings based on pairwise matches.” Maybe Yang did play chess. “They’re all pretty good fighters and they’re smart enough to play to their strengths, we need to deny them that.”

She circled Pyrrha and Blake’s names with a quick motion. “Let’s assume Jaune is right, he usually is when it doesn’t involve people’s emotions, and these two will be trying to fight all of us at once.” Yang tapped Pyrrha’s name, “she might be able to do it too, I’ve been looking for a fight against her but I’m not going to say I’ve got a better chance than everyone else who’s ever tried.” They nodded and she looked vaguely hurt. “Really? Fine, be that way. On the whole we’re physically and aura wise stronger than all of them, if we can get in close on any of them but Pyrrha and keep them there I think we can win individual fights. We’re going to have to grind, no finesse, no grace just get in tight and hit them till they don’t get up.” She threw a quick combo that made the air hum. “Like the man said, everyone has a plan until you punch them in the mouth.”

It did have the advantage of simplicity. “Who do you want us to fight then?”

“I’ll take Pyrrha. Ren you can have a ninja off with Blake. Nora, hit Weiss with a few shells then keep her ducking. Jaune-” she paused even though there was only one opponent left- “you’ve got Ruby but you know, don’t hold back, but also-”

“Don’t smash her through the walls?”

“As if you could.”

He flexed and he almost thought Yang was looking before he decided that was impossible. “You know I don’t carry another gun because I’ve got these boys permanently attached right?”

“Puns are my job Jaune.”

 


	8. Chapter 8

The eight of them were standing in the ring in two lines. Pyrrha looked perfectly calm but everyone else had some signs of nervousness. Ren, like Blake, was popping the magazines in and out of his guns. Nora was having an intense conversation with herself, Weiss looked bored and Ruby and Yang were back to making threatening gestures towards each other.  
  
Jaune had Crocea Mors in his hand and his shield strapped to his arm and it felt right. He was the heir to a long line of heroes, and if he wasn’t fit to join them yet, he would be. Either way they had all been here, this sword in their hands as they waited for battle. He had never really been able to get a good read on his sword, whatever substance had made it impervious to damage somehow lent it immunity to his intuition. As far as he knew no one else had discovered that particular ability, people noticed a sword that never dulled before one that resisted psychometry. His opponents didn’t share that power though.  
  
He gave team PWBR, Ozpin really had to stretch for that one, another look with his semblance drawing more power. It keyed off his previous thoughts, literally anyone but Pyrrha would have given an easier team name, BWRN for example but no, Ozpin had to use the Mystral alphabet and the letter that looked like a P rather than the one that sounded like it. Maybe it would be easier if Ozpin just chose team leaders based off of their initials, or even more sensibly changed it so that the team names weren’t necessarily reflective of their members. Oh well, traditions had to be upheld, wouldn’t want to offend the alumni.  
  
He’d wasted his time though, Goodwitch had said something that Pyrrha had nodded to. She turned to Yang, a minute shift from her position, but Nora suddenly moved in front.  
  
“She’s not the leader today Professor!” Goodwitch merely raised an eyebrow, it failed to daunt the girl. “It’s me, Nora, leader of team INJURY!” Yang looked betrayed but Jaune was still on team names, that worked far better than theirs.  
  
Goodwitch wanted to sigh, his semblance happily informed him, but she only nodded. “If Ms. Xiao Long wants to cede leadership, that is her prerogative. The match will begin in three..-”  
  
Nora cut in then, turning to face them. “So same plan guys, except Yang fights Weiss-” She threw a look of triumph at their erstwhile leader, “and I fight Pyrrha. That’s what you get for not bringing me to a brawl with the White Fang!”  
  
She deployed her hammer with her last word and smashed the floor in front of them, sending up a spray of rubble that slowed the charging Pyrrha and Blake. Ren moved past her smoothly, staying out her hammer’s path with the ease of long practice.  
  
Jaune’s role hadn’t changed with the coup, he brought his shield up and sprinted for Ruby. The short girl was following the expected plan, he’d been worried his semblance had been wrong, and was staring down the barrel of her rifle. Weiss was guarding her, the blonde’s sword moving as she sketched a glyph with her eyes locked on him.  
  
He hadn’t fought her often enough to know precisely what she was making but staying out of its way seemed wise. He was about to dodge - then Weiss had bigger problems. Yang had jumped over the entire ring, her gauntlets launching her, and Weiss had been focused enough on him that Yang’s punch to her face had been a complete surprise. The smaller girl reeled back, struggling to gain distance as Yang kept up the pressure with a flurry of jabs and low kicks. Ruby turned to help her partner but then Jaune had arrived.  
  
It seemed unfair how fast she was. He’d spent years training his muscles to move a lighter piece of metal half as fast as she moved her crimson monstrosity. Semblances were bullshit though, a thought that was small consolation as she spun away from his hit and used her scythe's momentum to swing an overhand blow that would have driven him to his knees if he’d tried to block it. That choice might have been better as her scythe only sped as she kept it moving until it half blurred around her. Jaune grimaced then stepped into her reach, angling his shield to keep the overlarge blade away from him. Regrettably she was still faster than him, she somehow spun the scythe on its long axis to dodge his block which left the blade’s tip in the ground and its barrel pointed at his stomach. “Shi-”  
  
It didn’t take long for Jaune to learn that bullets with a diameter of half an inch packed a punch, a fact Ruby seemed to think he was having trouble with as she kept shooting him. She got three rounds off before he blocked one and then she was gone- using the recoil to open up space. This matchup really wasn’t working out, she was too quick and she clearly saw the advantage of staying at range. He half wanted to switch opponents but from the gunfire and explosions behind him Nora and Ren were still fighting. If he left Ruby she’d be free to disrupt them- his help against Blake and Pyrrha might not be enough to balance her shots.  
  
No- he ducked another of Ruby’s shots as he ran towards her- he’d stick to the plan. He could take more damage than anyone on his team and the time Ruby spent shooting at him was more time for Yang to take out Weiss. He probably should check to make sure she was winning, but he had complete confidence that Yang would rather die than lose, especially to the heiress.  
  
Accepting the necessity of Ruby battering him with her scythe didn’t make it feel any better, although he’d at least absorbed all of the shots she had. She looked like she wanted to reload but he was at least fast enough to stop her from doing that. It was turning into a bit of a slog to be honest, step forward, block her scythe, stab at her and when she dodged, step forward again. It was precisely the sort of fight he was geared for, boring, repetitive, and exploiting his relatively massive aura reserves to the fullest. Naturally Ruby realized this and changed her game.  
  
This time she feinted, knowing that he had to commit to block because she was fast enough to change her mind. Instead of hitting him with the haft like he expected, her scythe expanded somehow. The blade swung out leaving it something closer to a glaive. He dodged it more through luck than skill- but she wasn’t trying to hit him- she pole-vaulted over him, one last shot that she’d kept in reserve launching her high above him fast enough that his reflexive swing hit nothing but air. She was gone, petals fluttering in her wake.  
  
There was a strangled gasp from Ren, and then an inarticulate scream of fury from Nora. Ruby came back almost as fast as she had went, clearly not ready for a warhammer to the chest from the enraged girl. Jaune would have sympathized if he wasn’t sure that her scythe hurt just as much, he swung at her ballistic body and didn’t hold back. She was down.  
  
Of course so was Ren and Nora wasn’t far behind. Pyrrha did some sort of flip over a retreating Blake, jumped off her own shield in a way that left conservation of momentum crying, and knocked Nora out with a single precise blow to her head. She landed in almost a curtsey, her shield bouncing back to her hand before she straightened and turned towards Jaune.  
  
Luckily Yang chose that moment to make an appearance, sending a scorched looking Weiss rolling across the ground between them. She stalked towards Jaune, her hair aflame.  
  
“Alright there Jaune? Didn’t have too much trouble beating up a little girl?”  
  
He cracked his neck and spent far too much effort on trying to sound as collected. “Morally? No more than you I guess, younger siblings always deserve it.” Ruby gave an indignant groan, something about milk, but Jaune was focused on the steadily advancing Pyrrha. Blake was coming too, but she was deep in the yellow, one good hit would finish her. Pyrrha’s aura was almost entirely untouched, he was willing to bet that the only thing that had hit her was shrapnel.  
  
Yang moved to his left, leaving his sword arm as free as possible then stood ready, her fists held high. Jaune matched her, his shield elevated, while their two opponents advanced. Blake glanced at Pyrrha for a split second, without his semblance he couldn’t have seen it, and the redhead’s shoulders twitched minutely in what was apparently a signal.  
  
Blake leapt at her partner feet first, then she was thrown at them, a shadow clone sending her far faster than she could have jumped. Jaune stepped into her, shield angled to send her up. It wouldn’t matter, part of him thought, cats always landed on their feet. She didn’t have the courtesy to do that though, another of her shadow clones took her place and she was behind him as he spun to where a lifetime of watching flying objects had told him she’d be.  
  
He dove, just trying to get distance to recover but she managed to loop her ribbon around his leg and trip him up and send him sprawling. He rolled to his back and jerked his leg as hard as he could- hoping to disarm her- but Blake knew the dangers of her weapon. She was already running, taking all the tension from the cord as she wound up to slash him.  
  
Jaune blocked and then flipped to his feet with a move that made his entire core scream. He’d fought Blake before and he knew that for a short time he could fence with her, especially when she only had a sword in her off hand. They exchanged a series of blows, his greater strength more than equalling her heavier cleaver thing, and he was beginning to think he had her on the ropes. Then she yanked on her rope and he was back on the ground, watching her heel stomp towards his face.  
  
Headbutting it might have been a terrible choice, no it definitely was, but it left her off balance as his head rang and he managed to roll away and lose the ribbon. He hadn’t hit her seriously yet and he could swear he still felt the imprint of her boot on his forehead. Things could be better.  
  
Blake wouldn’t attack again immediately, she was waiting but not for much longer. She’d soon realize she could just shoot him, but Jaune didn’t plan to give her the chance. He lunged in and she swung. Jaune took the hit and pinned the sword she’d used against his side, grinding on his armor. Blake did the instinctual thing, trying to jerk her weapon free, but that was what Jaune wanted. He tackled her, letting all of his armored weight crush her to the ground.  
  
It was a little bit of a surprise when she exploded, when his head cleared she was on the ground next to him. He managed to get to his knees, his mind crawling as he tried to figure out what happened. A loud buzzer clued him in, Blake had somehow blown up her shadow clone taking both of them out. It was all down to Yang now.  
  
His leader was magnificent, every move trailing flame as her entire body was surrounded by a brilliant corona. Pyrrha was Pyrrha though. Her shield was scorched and her aura was lower but it didn’t phase her as she swayed through all of Yang’s punches and kicks. She was flicking away Yang’s punches with her sword and he thought he could see intent behind the parries, a plan of some sort. Pyrrha’s blocks were getting more precise as they continued somehow, her sword and shield moving to the perfect place to deflect Yang’s punches the farthest away with the least effort. The writing was on the wall, but he was still pulling for his leader. All she had to do was connect once and the fight would be different. Upsets happened all the time.  
  
Not this time though, Pyrrha’s sword expanded at exactly the right instant and flung Yang’s arms wide apart. She punched the shaft into the blonde’s face and then followed it with a kick that sent Yang skidding away on her back. It was over.  
  
Jaune shakily got to his feet, needing to brace himself on his shield for an instant before his wobbly knees took his weight. Blake was out, so with the odd motion that had taken weeks to become second nature he collapsed his shield and sheathed his sword before offering Yang a hand up.  
  
It took far more effort than he’d have liked but he pulled her to her feet. “You’ll get her next time.”  
  
She grinned, it lit her face almost as much as her semblance did. “You occasionally say the nicest things.”  
  
“Like when?” Yang was leaning on his shoulder but as they moved towards the exit she was resting less and less on him.  
  
“Details escape me I’m afraid,” she took all her weight off him then and sped up as they left the ring. “I’m sure there was something once though.”


	9. Chapter 9

Jaune held the remote tightly, watching and rewinding one stretch of their fight over and over again.  
  
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” Yang had been enthusiastic at the start of the tape session but after the fifth complete showing she clearly wanted to move on. “Besides, if you’re feeling guilty Blake and Ruby already did.”  
  
Jaune set the remote down and looked to his partner. “I knocked out two of our opponents, thank you very much.”  
  
“By that you mean my little sister made you look like an idiot and then you were caught in a _cat_ astrophic-” She ducked the thrown remote smoothly, “explosion.” She grabbed the remote from where it had fallen and switched the monitor off. “I don’t think it would have mattered too much anyways.” Jaune raised an eyebrow but stood with Yang as she continued. “I mean, sure it would have been nice to know Pyrrha controls one of the four fundamental forces-”  
  
“I don’t think she can do more than magnetism, probably no radiation.”  
  
She was not impressed by his interruption, throwing a punch at his shoulder that his reflexive dodge only reduced to bruising force. “Irregardless,” she was more annoyed than he’d thought if she was breaking out the big guns, “what could I have done? It’s not like knowing about it would have made Pyrrha stop adjusting my punches and kicks.”  
  
“We could have-” Yang wrenched the door open before cutting him off.  
  
“Dropped all our weapons and armor on the floor and lined up for everyone else to beat us while Pyrrha is so confused that the metal isn’t moving with us?” Put like that it did sound a little foolish, however Yang could make anything seem foolish with the right tone. She bumped shoulders with him, this time gently for her. “We’ll get them next time, and we learned an important lesson today.”  
  
He took a few steps but he was coming up blank. “Blake can explode on command?”  
  
She thought for a second before shaking her head. “Well you know what they say about faunus girls, but no.”  
  
Jaune wasn’t quite sure what they said but wouldn’t admit it for a million Lien. “Your little sister is obnoxiously fast?”  
  
“You don’t even know,” from the sound of it there was some resentment there. “Anytime anything went wrong guess whose story got told first?”  
  
“I’m not sure if it’s my incredible intuition, but something tells me Ruby’s stories would be closer to the truth on average.”  
  
Her smirk made the entire corridor brighter. “Not going to comment on that.”  
  
They’d reached their dorm room and Yang was about to buzz in when Jaune stopped her. “So what was the lesson?”  
  
“Um... Something something scruples and personal privacy lose fights?” She pushed past him as he stood dumfounded. “I’m also a fan of not letting Nora take over anymore.”  


 

________

  
Three days later found Jaune in Professor Port’s class flipping through case files on his scroll. Their skirmish by the docks had made the police blotter, but he and the other students had been left out. Ozpin’s work presumably, he couldn’t see Goodwitch doing it. The confirmation that it was Torchwick and the White Fang was nice though, no matter how confident he’d been the police had been reluctant to completely trust him. He was tempted to make an email compilation of all their doubts and forward it to the commissioner but something told him that would be a bad idea.  
  
Daydreaming aside, the case just brought to mind what Junior had said about Source Yellow. Beyond the humor aspect, Yang hadn’t mentioned it yet but he knew she was keeping it in reserve, it could be a sign of persistent errors. If he’d screwed up and the police hadn’t told him that could explain their doubts. Of course it didn’t make much sense to deny him information, he couldn’t make bricks without straw.  
  
Port’s voice reached a new height and Jaune looked up from his scroll. The stout, he was resisting even thinking portly, man was gesticulating with incredible vigor, casting shadows on the projected image of a goliath. Grimm Studies was one of the most boring classes, even discounting Port’s lack of pedagogical skill. Jaune’s semblance made regurgitating information incredibly easy, questions about the habits or peculiarities of various Grimm could be answered straight from the text-book or even quoting Port’s lectures. He didn’t need to pay attention for that, due to the sublime power of his soul he could just slack off.  
  
Nora wasn’t so blessed but that didn’t mean she, or anyone really, was paying attention. Ruby was doodling, Blake was napping, Ren was methodically taking back the pens and pencils Nora was trying to build a fort with, and Yang was playing with a dating app. Really the only ones even trying were Weiss and Pyrrha which stung a little. It wasn’t enough they were the best team at fighting, they had to have the top two students as well. Jaune had always consoled himself that he was smarter than people who were stronger than him, that idea was dying a quick death.  
  
His scroll buzzed and it was positioned at just the right spot on the desk to loudly resonate. Yang’s sudden stillness told him who it was from without even using his power. The entire class went silent as they looked at him, luckily it coincided with a dramatic pause in Port’s speech so he probably assumed they were waiting with bated breath. He snatched his scroll up right before it buzzed again- that bitch.  


 

_Having fun?  
Think he’ll notice this time?_

  
A pulse of his aura revealed that Port had in fact noticed, and knew it was his scroll. That wouldn’t end well.  
  


 

  
_If I have to fight a goliath because of you.._

_He couldn’t fit one in here._  
Could he?  
  
Still burning aura the answer came immediately, the smallest Goliath on record could have walked through the doors and only smashed a few feet of wall above the header.  


 

_Probably not.  
Unless he cut its legs and tusks off._

  
He saw her give Port’s axe a speculative look, imagining how long it would take.  
  
  
_That’s something he’d mention instead of the beowulf thing._  
_Why does he even care about catching one of those?_  
 _I’ve literally killed hundreds._  
 _How hard can it be?_  
  
All you'd really need was a strong cage, it would die eventually but really-  
  
“Well Mr. Arc, Ms. Xiao Long? Do you know?”  
  
The panic on Yang’s face made it all the earlier embarrassment worth it. She hadn’t been paying attention at all and she hated seeming less than fully committed as a leader. He hadn’t been paying attention either, but he had a trick for that. It took the barest touch of aura and he had it.  
  
“Because they can open routes generally viewed as impassable and lightly defended.”  
  
“Very true Mr. Arc.” The professor continued his lecture without further incident and Jaune shared a look of relief with Yang, it could have been far worse. That thought held until the end of class, as they stood and started packing Port’s voice filled the room again. “Ms. Xiao Long, Mr. Arc, if you could come down here?”  
  
Sliding his empty notebook into his backpack and scanning his desk for any of his remaining possessions were just futile gestures to delay the inevitable. With a sigh Jaune followed Yang down to the lecture floor.  
  
Port made them wait a moment, shuffling his notes as he stood at his desk. Recognizing it was a power play didn’t make it less effective, at least for him. Yang looked far more equanimous. A girl with her stories must have been in front of teachers and principals more than once, yet another way home schooling had failed him. At last Port finished with his papers and turned to face the two of them.  
  
“Do you know why I called the two of you down here?”  
  
Yang characteristically took the lead. “Because we weren’t paying attention?” It was the obvious answer, but it was also apparently incorrect.  
  
“If I called down everyone who wasn’t paying attention the whole class would be here.” He picked up his weapon, cradled it really, then set it back onto its stand. “You two were being distracting. If someday one of you in this class dies because you weren’t paying attention, well that’s life. If someone dies because they didn’t hear the standard tactics of goliaths.. that’s on you.”  
  
It hit Yang harder than Jaune, he couldn’t help but think that Port’s complaint was unfair. Sure his scroll had gone off, but Cardin had been straight up snoring the whole class. It had to balance out. “We’ll try to be less disruptive professor.”  
  
Port looked between the two of them and gave a snort, his expression making it clear he didn’t expect that outcome. “That wasn’t all though. Care to guess what else Mr. Arc?”  
  
Jaune hated guessing without having a good idea at the answer, so it was an easy choice. He flared his semblance. The world leapt into focus, the comfort of everything seeming to be inextricably linked together filling him. In an instant he’d accidentally learned far more than he ever needed to know about the grimm skull replicas, so when he looked at Port and saw nothing it was a shock. Well not nothing, he could see the man, hear him shifting, but the knowledge that should be flooding into him wasn’t. He glanced at the desk, wooden, five or six years old, modified to hold an extra magazine on the underside of the keyboard slide, then back to the professor. Nothing. There was a Port shaped hole in the world, he resolved never ever to phrase it like that near Yang, and it was profoundly disturbing.  
  
Port smiled and for the first time in years someone’s expression gave Jaune no clues to his thoughts. “From your confusion I’ll assume you discovered my point.”  
  
“You blocked me.” Stating the obvious was something Jaune knew he did frequently, everything was obvious to him when he wanted, but this time it was more. “How?”  
  
“Because you’re hardly the first person with a semblance that gives enhanced senses or information. Maybe if you paid more attention in your studies you’d be aware of that.” This time Jaune could hear the condescension. “Both of you share a problem, you came here with a powerful ability and rely on it to the exclusion of all else.” Port was suddenly back in his perception, back in the world, this was a speech he’d given before to others. “You both are lucky to have as much natural ability as you do, however you have a chance to expand your skills rather than refine your current ones to increasingly little gain.”  
  
“We’ve both gotten loads better!” Yang had stepped forward and he knew exactly how annoyed she was. “Jaune works himself to the bone and Professor Goodwitch hasn’t had anything to say about any of us!”  
  
“If Beacon was a school for spies and killers you’d be correct. You’re here to be hunters though,” he ran his fingers over his axe again, “there’s more to it than battle, whatever stories might tell you.” He started gathering his papers, a clear sign of dismissal. “If nothing else, seek more variety. Good day.”  
  
He exited, leaving Yang and Jaune alone on the lecture floor. She’d cool rapidly, mercurial was an excellent adjective for her, but for now she was still irritated. “We’re the second strongest team, second strongest partners behind Pyrrha freaking Nikos and he thinks we’re slacking? We’ve completed every assignment we’ve been given perfectly and above expectations.” It was lucky she didn’t have her gauntlets, there’d be fires. “We even broke up a White Fang robbery, what more does he want?”  
  
That was clearly rhetorical, well clear with his semblance active, so Jaune just nodded and followed her out of the lecture hall.


	10. Chapter 10

Port’s words had an affect on Yang. She redoubled their training, but more than that she focused on expanding the breadth of their skills. The emphasis on combat might not have been what the professor had wanted, but then he should have been clearer. For all Port’s talk of high minded ideals, well all the stuff he implied about ideals, they were fighters. In the end their job was to kill and die, being stronger in combat was the fastest way to improve.  
  
That was easier said than done of course. No one simply woke up and decided to be better, and then was. Improvement took time, and effort, and work, and sleepless nights. Luckily whenever they faltered they had Yang pushing and prodding them relentlessly. It was somewhat out of the model he’d built of the girl, Jaune had initially pegged her as a thrill seeker, but she was driven. Part of it, a large part, was probably the desire to be the best but Yang had more depth to her than he had first thought.  
  
All of that might not have mattered, they’d all spent years training to reach their current levels, but for the ‘last master of the lotus style.’ Ren had worn his voice out trying to explain the intricacies of focusing aura, but he’d succeeded. Partially.  
  
Ren shook his head as their leader blasted Jaune across the roof. “No! No! Yang, you need to hold it in longer.”  
  
“That’s what-”  
  
Jaune managed to cut her off her reflexive comeback with a somewhat diffuse blade of aura. It barely pushed her, the only visible result was her hair being blown back by the projected pulse. He took a second too long to admire his effort, it might not have been especially good but it was his- and Nora with a full swing hammered him.  
  
It took a few seconds to control his tumble through the night air, his shield worked fine as a lifting surface, but Nora had sent him on a low ballistic arc. The engineering college flashed beneath him and a frantic contortion kept him from wrecking the roof of the machine shop. He’d lost his balance and tenuous stability with the twist though and it was frowned upon to damage the grounds. Luckily there was a fish pond that wouldn’t mind being a crater temporarily. It turned out water did feel like concrete at high speeds, who knew?  
  
He dug himself out of the muddy bottom, a few quick kicks sending him to the surface despite the weight of his sodden clothes and armor. The engineers were having some sort of cookout or bonfire on their quad and all of them were staring at him. Sometimes it was hard to remember that Beacon did other things than train hunters, especially since most other students had the sense to keep their distance from the hormonally driven weapons of mass destruction. Seeing a fully armored man plunge out of the sky and into their party was only likely to increase that, so Jaune just gave them a nod and started the long jog back to the roof.  
  
One of Yang’s goals was to increase their stamina, that conversation had included more nudges and winks than anyone was really comfortable with, so Jaune didn’t use his aura during the trip. As a result he was breathing pretty heavily by the time he made it back to his team and discovered them sitting on the parapet.  
  
“So why are we practicing on the roof again? We pay a lot of tuition to have access to air conditioned training rooms.” Yang took one look at him, soaked and covered in mud and nearly fell off of the roof laughing. Nora caught her, hooking her with the haft of her hammer, but she was also grinning.  
  
“No one wanted to say it Jaune, but you really need to take more showers.” Nora was entirely serious, and her tone was almost sympathetic. “Yang was hoping you’d take the hint when she mentioned training in fresh air, but I thought giving you a dunking might be more productive.”  
  
“She’s right, you’re really playing into the Valean stereotypes.” From anyone else Jaune could have taken that, but from Ren it was the basest betrayal. “What’s next? Cheese and wine parties?”  
  
“Pick up your weapons and I’ll show you all whining!” In retrospect that wasn’t the greatest threat ever. Yang did fall off the roof this time. She gave them a thumbs up from the ground, then vanished back into the building for the climb up. Nora and Ren still looked far too pleased with themselves. Apparently getting Ren out of his shell was a long term project of the shorter girl and Ren traded insults so rarely that he had fewer to celebrate. Jerks, all of them.  
  
Jaune unstrapped his armor and pulled off his hoodie, wringing out the scummy pond water into a growing puddle. Yang emerged back on the roof, glowing as ever. “So why are we training on the roof?”  
  
She deliberately stomped over, Ren’s lessons on aura enhancements making the roof shudder with each of her steps. “Well I thought it might get a little loud.”  
  
“And the sound proofed training rooms don’t account for that?”  
  
Yang’s familiar smirk covered her face. “I like the idea of keeping Cardin and his little crew from getting any sleep because of all the explosions.”  
  
Typical. “Classy.”  
  
“I try.” She clapped, letting out an amber wave that left her both shocked and pleased. “But not sleeping will hurt us just as much, so with the power vested in me I declare this training session adjourned!” She flung herself into the sky with a leap and sped herself on with two dust shells, aimed to collide with the wall of Cardinal’s dorm. Her landing was a little more subdued, but Nora mimicked her and exploded into the sky with a deafening bang. Jaune and Ren shared a look of resignation before Ren left via the stairs, with Jaune picking up his dripping equipment and following.  
  


__________

  
  
“The shower thing was a joke you know.” Jaune sipped his coffee and tried to conceal his satisfaction. He had known, but using all the hot water was a time honored Arc trick, the things you learned with seven sisters. “I mean it didn’t bug me, but Nora and Ren were looking a little blue.”  
  
“They’ll get over it.” Even if they didn’t Jaune wasn’t sure he could bring himself to care right now. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, the air was just warm enough that girls were wearing their summer clothes, and he didn’t have any tests hanging over his head. People watching in Vale was the perfect way to squander a Saturday. “Are you doing anything today? Or is this it?”  
  
Yang stretched across the table from him, he was sure she was doing it just to tease him but he didn’t want to find out. “As much as I’d like to laze around in the sun all day, Ruby is coming to the city for some sort of team excursion. I told her I’d tag along, we don’t really see each other as much as I was expecting.”  
  
“I guess it’s different with just one sibling, I like having some space from mine.”  
  
“We’ve always been close. I’m glad she made it to Beacon with our year, it would have been even weirder without her here.” For a second she was contemplative, then her native energy filled her again. “But while we’re waiting let’s play a game, you point out someone and tell me something about them and I decide if it’s true or not.”  
  
Jaune knew what she was doing, she wanted him to use his semblance more and was hoping this would reduce his inhibitions. He had seen the cost of not using it, and against random strangers it wouldn’t feel as bad a breach of trust. Oh well, a few irrelevant secrets weren’t that important. “Deal.” He pointed to a random man and gave Yang a second to study him before opening his mind.  
  
Fat, eats well, office job, not enough exercise- no that was boring, Has a ring, it’s shiny, takes it off a lot, no it’s just still new. God this guy had the least interesting life imaginable. Has a slight limp, injured knee, played ball in school, misses it, believes highlight of his life has passed- boring and banal, lovely. “He’s embezzling from his boss.”  
  
Yang gave the man a searching look, then shook her head. “I say no. He looks like a standup fellow.” Jaune set his drink down a little more heavily than it deserved. “One point for team Xiao Long then! My turn to pick somebody.” She twisted, scanning the crowd then pointed to a blonde faunus with an inability to understand buttons. “Him.”  
  
From Vacuo, no Mistral, hunter trained, here for the tournament, arrived without his team, leads his team, wanted to have fun without pressure, bit of a kleptomaniac, stole the banana, monkey faunus. What a walking stereotype, Yang wouldn’t see it coming. “He likes to steal fruit.”  
  
Yang gave him another look, lingering just an instant longer than was strictly polite. “Nope, I vote for the intrinsic goodness of anyone who cares that much about their core.”  
  
“He actually escaped the police after stowing away to get here.”  
  
Yang sighed, at last turning away. “What a waste of a body. For a minute I thought I’d found someone to share the difficulties of being really really good looking with.”  
  
“Humble much?”  
  
“It isn’t bragging if it’s true,” she glanced at her scroll for the time. “Now pick somebody before I have to meet Ruby.”  
  
Jaune wanted someone fun, he did like learning secrets but he had standards. Sadly the crowds were entirely anodyne, just people also out to enjoy the weather. He gave them one last look before settling on a girl with bright orange hair. “Her, carrot-top.”  
  
Yang nodded, and then Jaune let the rest of the world fall away. Shy, cautious, worried about hurting people, she’s heavy, heavier than a girl her size should be, not a girl, not human, _never human_ \- “What the hell.”  
  
Yang’s purple eyes were wide. “What? What did you see?”  
  
“She’s a robot.” The girl, no android, was picking its way through the crowd, each step deliberate. She, it was worried about crushing people’s feet, didn’t want to hurt people, could hurt people, built to fight, combat ready. “And she’s dangerous.”  
  
“Who’s dangerous?”  
  
“Rubes!” The rest of her team had arrived with her, Pyrrha and Blake chatting as Weiss hunched under an awning looking increasingly burnt. “Jaune and I were playing a game, it’s not-”  
  
“Who?” She followed her sister’s line of sight and brightened. “Oh I just met her! It’s Penny!” Ruby dragged Weiss out of the shade over to them, “Weiss ran into her earlier, she’s really strong!”  
  
“She’s a robot.” Jaune’s deadpan statement silenced her.  
  
“She’s a little odd” said Pyrrha after the moment passed, “but that’s not a nice thing to say about her. I’ve met plenty of people who would benefit from a little more socialization.”  
  
Jaune couldn’t help but feel she meant him, and blurted out a response before he could think it through. “No she really is, like with nuts and bolts and wires.”  
  
“You’re saying she’s made of metal?” Pyrrha had a way of saying things nicely that also conveyed her complete disbelief. “There’s an easy way to-” her mouth dropped open and she paled. “She is made of metal.”  
  
Now all six of them were staring at the girl as she walked deliberately through the square.  
  
Ruby stamped one foot, sometimes she acted her age and seethed. “I don’t care if she’s a robot, she’s my friend!”  
  
“You just met her!” Weiss looked exasperated, although that might have been her reddening skin.  
  
“I can make friends as quickly as I want!”  
  
“She’s coming over here.” Blake’s interjection stopped the incipient argument as Penny approached. Jaune felt uneasy, from her evident weight to move so smoothly she must be immensely strong and he was beginning to sense her aura. She might not be hostile, but she was dangerous.  
  
“Salutations!” She certainly sounded real, but his semblance was alerting him to all the little things that betrayed her true nature. “I didn’t expect to see any of you again today, Vale does have so many people!”  
  
“Yeah, it’s crowded today.” Ruby took the lead, the only one unconcerned. “We’re going to try to see the competitors for the tournament, we’re headed for the docks.”  
  
“I was just there, several ships from Vacuo are due to arrive in the near future.”  
  
“Wait a second.” Yang’s raised hand brought the android to a stop. “If you just met shouldn’t you have come from the same place?” It might not have been the most important question but Jaune was also curious.  
  
“I’ve been riding the bus in circles. You can stay on as long as you like for the price of one ticket, and it is an efficient way to tour the city.” She straightened with her hands held behind her back. “I believe I have seen all that is visible from the bus though. Do you mind if I accompany you for the rest of the day? I too would like to meet the other teams in the Vytal Tournament.”  
  
“Um..” Ruby looked to Pyrrha who seemed torn for an instant before rallying.  
  
“Of course you may come with us, and you’ve actually met half of another team just now. Yang Xiao Long and Jaune Arc. Yang’s the leader of-”  
  
Penny’s eyes went wide. “Source Yellow?” Yang’s snickers only cut off when Jaune flung a packet of sugar at her. “I didn’t realize that you were a real person.”  
  
Yang cut in before he could. “He’s a little robotic on occasion, but he’s a real boy.” Penny’s face fell, it was almost enough to convince Jaune she felt emotions before she brightened again.  
  
“Well it is nice to meet both of you, I am Penny Polendina.”  
  
“Charmed,” Yang said as she stood, throwing some Lien on the table. “Well Jaune, want to come along with us?”  
  
Jaune finished his drink and shook his head, keeping Penny in his view at all times. “Way too much estrogen for me I think.”  
  
“Coward, I thought you’d want to get the inside scoop.”  
  
Hanging around Penny for information he’d have weeks to gather didn’t seem worth it. Besides, if something did happen he’d be of no use without his weapon and Pyrrha could handle her with ease. “I’ve learned enough today I think, text me if there’s anything though.”  
  
“Sure thing Mr. Yellow.” The six of them vanished into the crowds and Jaune turned towards Beacon. Things here just kept getting weirder.


End file.
